Learning Curve
by amylase126
Summary: Sequel to To Boldly Go. Following the events of the Narada incident, Jim and the crew are happy to be out in space on regular missions. However, even the most basic of missions are made tense as Rosie and Jim try to navigate how to balance out work and their newly evolved relationship.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I only own Rosie.**

**XXXX**

"Ouch!" Rosie shouted. She jerked her right arm back away from Bones. She was in sickbay, sitting on one of the cots. Spock stood alongside her cot, silent and unmoving, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Now see here," Bones was standing in front of her, tweezers still clasped in his hands, "I've cleaned up and healed all your other cuts and bruises, Rosie." He gestured to her face and legs before continuing on. "I can't fix up this arm unless you let me get the debris out. Unless you want me to permanently seal these here little rocks into it." There was a little glass jar on the table next to Bones with the few rocks he'd managed to pick out in it.

"It still hurts," Rosie grumbled, holding her arm back out in front of her again, offering it to the doctor. "You could be a little gentler." Bones wrapped his hand around her wrist, placed the tweezers back around the little rock he'd been working on, and tugged again. "Ow!" Rosie shrieked again as the rock pulled free from her skin.

"What the hell happened?" Jim barreled into medical at the same time, knocking over a tray of tools. He scrambled to pick up the things he knocked over, plunking them back onto the table once he righted it. "I tried to get here faster, once I'd heard you'd transported directly to sickbay, but I couldn't get off the bridge for a while and I…"

"I'm okay, Jim," Rosie cut him off. She looked over to him as Bones grasped her arm again, answering the question that was screaming through Jim's head before he could even voice it.

Jim moved to the sit on the cot next to Rosie and grasped the hand that Bones wasn't holding. He flipped the hand he was holding over and over, scrutinizing it. "Bones is already done with that one," Rosie told him in as calm a voice as she could. "Really, it's fine. I'm fine."

Jim looked at the hand and the arm, seeing all the lighter colored patches of new skin where Bones had used the regenerator speckled up and down the arm, and snarled, "What happened?"

"I believe I can detail the events for you, Captain," Spock spoke up for the first time since Rosie had been taken into sickbay.

XXXX

_The planet they'd beamed down to was inhabited by humanoid-like aliens. They were technologically advanced, so Spock hadn't been concerned about using the tricorders, but hiding the ship and his Vulcan appearance had been of the utmost important to him as the native aliens had yet to left the planet or had any contact with other alien species. _

_Hiding the _Enterprise _was the easy part; the ship was just going to stay high up in orbit around the planet. Rosie was going down to the surface, wanting to get some readings on the amounts of the element bermanium that was in the soil for some research projects. Jim had insisted he'd beam to the surface with her, but Rosie had told him no and suggested Spock instead, as she and Spock could collect the readings faster. Spock had argued that he shouldn't go down to the surface because of his appearance. After some bickering amongst the three, they'd finally settled on Spock going with Rosie, as long as he wore some strange prosthesis__ on his ears to cover the points, making them appear human. _

_Spock was clearly uncomfortable with the prosthesis, but he made no complaints as he and Rosie beamed down. They'd met with a few individuals of the native species, explained that they were just looking for some scientific information, and went on their way. They didn't realize that a few of the individuals had followed them however._

_They were almost done with their readings when everything went to hell. Rosie was taking a few more measurements, glancing down at her tricorder. Spock reached up to rub at one of the prosthetic ears again and somehow, managed to knock it off. The sudden appearance of his pointed ear alarmed the individuals following them.  
_

_Spock realized it, hearing the footfalls of the natives running at them, and was able to step out of the way. Rosie, however, was still focused on her tricorder and didn't know anything was wrong until the native man's hands slammed into her shoulders, hard._

_Spock had reached for her, to stop her, but he hadn't been quick enough. The hill she rolled down hadn't been steep, but it was littered with tiny, sharp rocks. She'd managed to slow herself with her arms, as well as covered up most of her face, but the damaged was done. Her face and legs had been scraped up, but her arms and hands were the worst, the little rocks on the hillside becoming embedded in the soft skin._

_Spock had made his way down the hill to her as quickly as he could without falling down it himself. When he'd reached her, she was sitting upright, glancing at her hands, stunned. "Are you alright?" he'd asked, kneeling down next to her._

_"My uniform dress is dirty," she'd answered, not even looking at him._

_"I do not understand."_

_"My uniform," she gestured to her red, standard-issue dress, "it's dirty. Dusty. I want to brush it off, but I'll make it dirtier with the blood."_

_"_Enterprise_," Spock called the ship on his communicator. By her illogical responses, he was starting to suspect she might have injured her head. "Two to beam directly to sickbay."_

XXXX

"My suspicions were incorrect however. According to Dr. McCoy, there was no evidence of any trauma to her head," Spock finished relaying the events to Jim, although it had taken him longer than he'd anticipated due to Rosie randomly shouting "ouch," interspersed with Dr. McCoy muttering "damn it."

Jim had sat quietly throughout the story, gently squeezing Rosie's hand when he knew she was in pain. He didn't speak after Spock finished either.

"You are angry, Captain," Spock observed. "I apologize for not reacting sooner. I did not realize that Lieutenant Commander Moure…"

"Rosie," Rosie reminded the Vulcan again. "Ouch!"

"Rosie," Spock corrected himself. "I did not realize that Rosie was directly behind me, or I would not have moved out of the man's path."

"It's not his fault, Jim."

"It's not his fault?" Jim echoed Rosie's words. "It's not his fault? Of course it's his fault!" Jim rose from the cot to face Rosie and Spock. "I didn't want to send him down! He didn't want to go down to the surface! Said it was unsafe. Would violate the prime directive if they saw that he was an alien species. I should've gone down with you! How could you let this happen to her?!"

Spock stood stoically while Jim screamed at him. However, the argument was causing Rosie to tense up, making Bones' work much more difficult. "Enough already!" the doctor finally shouted over the Captain's rant. "Get out of sickbay right now. Both of you."

"What?" Jim's rant ended as quickly as it began.

"Your arguin' is making my patient here anxious," Bones glared at the Captain and First Officer. "And being anxious is making it more difficult to get her cleaned up. So get out. And don't come back. I'll let you know when Rosie's in her quarters again." Spock nodded and left silently, but Jim still stood there gaping at the doctor. "You got cotton in your ears, Jim? Get out before I have you removed."

Jim managed to find his voice again. "Yeah," he cleared his throat before continuing. "Yeah. Okay. I'll see you soon, Rosie." He leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead before hustling out of sickbay.

"Goddamn hobgoblin and a goddamn idiot," Bones grumbled to himself as he went back to picking at the debris on Rosie's arm. He looked up and caught a glimpse of her face. "Hey. Hey, darlin'." Bones put down the tweezers for a moment. He placed a hand on each of her shoulders. "Don't you worry about them. Jim's just bein' overprotective and goin' crazy with it. He doesn't know what it's like to be in a real relationship. It's still new to all of us, tryin' to adjust to your new relationship. Let's just focus on getting' you fixed up, alright?" When Rosie nodded, but didn't reply, the doctor continued on, "I'll talk to him later."

The rest of the next hour, Bones worked in silence, cleaning and fixing up Rosie's arm.

**XXXX**

**A/N: I'm back! Here's the first chapter of the sequel I promised! Hope you guys enjoyed! Any feedback is always appreciated, so please don't hesitate to leave a comment or pm me if you have anything! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except Rosie.**

**XXXX**

Rosie was leaning back against the wall, her legs stretched out along the cot. Bones had rustled up something for her to wear, a black top and some pants, since her uniform had taken quite a beating in the fall.

"Here you are, darlin'," Bones reappeared after a minute, having moved over to the replicator. He placed the tray of food in her hands and tucked the blanket that was around her legs in a little tighter. "Eat up."

Rosie nibbled thoughtfully on the piece of toast Bones had brought her, while the doctor went back to bustling around the sickbay. When he got near enough for her to talk to him without shouting across the room again, she asked, "Why am I not back in my quarters yet?"

Leonard put the hypospray he'd been preparing for another patient down for a moment. "Because I haven't discharged you yet?" He meant it to come out as a statement, but it ended up being more of a question.

"There's nothing wrong with me, Len."

"You just fell down a fifty foot hill, tore up your arms…" the doctor tried again. Rosie's face stopped him.

"You're just torturing Jim."

Bones sighed and moved over to her cot. He sat down at the foot of it, making sure to not sit on her feet. "Yes, I am. Don't you be givin' me that glare," Bones scolded her. "He may be the captain, but that doesn't mean he gets to tell me how to run my sickbay."

"I know," Rosie said, sighing a little. She placed the tray on her lap. "He's a real pain sometimes. Anyway, when can I go back to my quarters? I'm here way too often."

Bones knew she was frustrated with Jim's actions. Only a little over four months had passed since the incident with Nero, since she and Jim had become involved. The first few months had gone great between them, but that was because they were grounded. Between the interviews, meetings, and repairs the _Enterprise_ underwent during that time, there hadn't been anything risky going on. But the minute they left spacedock and the missions started rolling in, to use Rosie's words, Jim had gone off the deep end.

At first, Rosie had found it endearing, she'd confided in Bones of course, that Jim was so adamant about keeping her safe. Not letting her go anywhere alone. Not allowing anyone else to look after her. But it soon began to grate on her nerves. She appreciated how much he loved her and put into keeping her safe. She really did. But there were times where it just wasn't necessary. McCoy heaved a sigh as he thought all that through while searching for an answer to her question. "You can go back to your quarters once you're done eating," he finally told her.

She smiled merrily at him, happy that he'd ignored her comments about Jim. As she started to eat more enthusiastically, he patted her leg gently and got back to work.

XXXX

About an hour later, after Rosie had finished all of her food, Bones had helped her to her quarters. He ordered her to bed and was currently leaning over her, a hypospray to her neck. "This is just a painkiller," he told her in a quiet voice. "Probably will make you sleepy. I'm sure Jim'll be along soon to see you, so get some rest while you can."

"Thanks, Len," she mumbled as he pulled the hypospray away from her. She rolled over and snuggled deeper into her bedding.

McCoy opened the drawer of the nightstand that was next to her bed and slipped the hypospray into it. He always left extra painkiller for her, just in case, because he knew she'd never come to him and admit to being sore. He looked back at her once again, smiling, and brushed a stray lock of blond hair off her forehead before heading out the door. _Time to find Jim_, he thought to himself.

XXXX

Jim was, thankfully, waiting in his quarters. McCoy really hadn't wanted to go searching for him, and his quarters were the first place he'd decided to check.

Jim was sitting in an armchair, trying to read through some reports when the doors chimed to tell him someone was requesting entrance to his quarters. "Come in," he said out loud, glad for the interruption. He couldn't really focus on the reports anyway.

He regretted it though when he saw the doctor enter the room. "Hey Bones," Jim said as offhandedly as he could while bracing himself for a lecture. "How's Rosie?"

"She's fine, Jim," Bones informed him, sitting down in the chair across from the Captain. "Just like she told you. Fine. She's in her quarters now, resting. Gave her some painkillers, so she'll probably be out for a few hours."

"Good. Good," Jim murmured, nodded. He waited silently for the doctor to say something more, but when nothing was offered up, he started, "Look…Bones…"

"You're sorry," the doctor interjected. "Yeah, yeah. You're always sorry." Jim winced at that one. "You listen here, Jim. I know you're the captain. I know you love Rosie. I know you were worried about her. But you can't just be chargin' into my sickbay actin' like a lunatic."

"I said I was sorry," Jim tried to assuage the onslaught. "Or I tried to."

"You and her need to figure this out. As soon as possible," Bones tried to impress on Jim just how important it was. "Jim, I know you two have been trying to be as discreet about it as possible, but people know. Nobody's sayin' anything, but that's because up until leaving spacedock, you two worked fine together. If you keep actin' like this, someone is goin' to say something."

"I know. I know," Jim moaned, tossing the PADD onto the end table next to him. "I'm making it so she can't do her job. I realize that. I don't know why I keep doing it. I mean…I don't…I just…"

Most of the doctor's anger dissipated at that point. "You don't know how to be in a relationship," he finished for Jim.

"Yeah," Jim admitted, embarrassed.

"Jim, she doesn't either," Bones tried to explain how it was a joint issue, not just Jim's. "Everybody who's ever mattered to her has up and left. She's used to working' alone, only being accountable to herself. You tryin' to tell her how to do her job drives her insane. You have no idea what it means to be emotionally attached to somebody, so you're overcompensatin'. Sound about right?"

"Yeah."

"You guys will get there, Jim," Bones leaned forward in his chair as he spoke. "Just…talk to her. Listen to her. If she says she needs to do something, don't be tellin' her she can't or who she can take to do the job." When Jim didn't say anything in response, Bones rolled his eyes. "Go."

Jim looked up sharply at that. "Go where?"

"Go wait in her quarters. I'm sure she'll want you there when she wakes up." Jim's face broke into giant grin, and the Captain hopped up from his chair and dashed over to the doors. "Hey!" McCoy called after him, just before he made it out of the room. "Make sure you apologize to her. Talk this out, Jim. Don't pretend it didn't happen again."

"I will, Bones!" With that, Jim disappeared, leaving Bones alone in the captain's quarters.

**XXXX**

**A/N: As always, hope you enjoyed! I appreciate all the follows/favorites! It's nice to see some of the same people coming back :) Any feedback is always appreciated!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Still only own Rosie.**

**XXXX**

Jim tried to force himself to walk as he made his way from his quarters to Rosie's. It hadn't been easy, as eager as he was to get there, but somehow he'd managed it. When he reached the doors, he put in his override code instead of signaling that he was there and padded into the room when the doors slid open.

Jim slipped out of his uniform boots as the doors slid shut behind him. He could just make out Rosie's form on her bed in the darkness, so he headed that way as quietly as possible. When he reached the bed, he walked around to the opposite side and then crawled onto to it, somehow managing to not jostle Rosie awake.

He propped himself up on his arms and just watched her. Her chest was rising and falling rhythmically, the even breaths telling him she was in a deep sleep. Rosie was tangled up in the sheets, one leg sticking out. She never managed to stay in once place on the bed; Jim knew that from the numerous amounts of unconscious kicks and punches he'd received over time. Her right arm was thrown over her head, splayed at a strange angle.

Jim smiled at her, scooting over to be even closer to her. He gently draped his right arm across her before laying his head down and closing his eyes.

XXXX

_Rosalyn was already in the lab, ready to be frustrated by another long day of testing their experiment. Just two days earlier, another engineer had been assigned by Starfleet to be a test subject for the experiment. He'd attached himself to the console all right, as always. But like the last three before him, he'd died of blood loss before he could complete anything worthwhile with the machinery. _

_She slipped her fingers into the machinery and performed the test project that the console was currently programmed to do. She completed it with no difficulty, other than, of course, trying to use the skin regenerator on herself afterwards._

_Once she managed to get the cuts healed up and the excess blood washed off, she plopped herself down into the chair in front of the console. She just didn't understand. Yes, the technology created the nicks in your fingers; it was supposed to do that. But she couldn't figure out why everyone besides herself and Commander Daniel Lukas lost so much blood when they used it._

_Even more frustrated than she'd been when she entered the lab, Rosie hurled the skin regenerator across the room. A deep chuckle resounded from behind her. She turned and saw Commander Lukas behind her, running a hand through his dark hair. "Rosalyn," he said, his deep voice scolding and teasing her at the same time, "we do need that piece of equipment."_

_"Sorry," she mumbled, breaking her eyes away from his intense gaze. It had been a little over nine months since Starfleet had assigned her to work with him, and she was beginning to wonder if she'd ever feel less intimidated by his pale-colored eyes._

_Lukas glanced around the lab, ensuring they were alone, before leaning down and placing a soft kiss on her lips. She'd smiled into the kiss. She had no idea why this older, handsome man had any interest in her, a teenager just a few weeks shy of her eighteenth birthday, but she was glad he did. She'd been floored when he made his intentions towards her clear after just a month of working together, and they were somehow making their relationship work wonderfully._

_"Come," he told her, taking her hands and pulling her out of the chair. "We won't be working here today."_

_"Why? Where're we going, Daniel?"_

_"I figured we've had enough failure for the week," he said, referencing their experiments. "I thought perhaps we should celebrate something."_

_He was leading her out of the laboratory. "Our relationship? It has almost been eight months…"_

_The corner of his mouth quirked up. "Indeed, it has."_

_xxxx_

_Once they were out of the lab and into a shuttlecraft, Daniel pulled the tickets out of his pocket. "The San Francisco Zoo?" Rosalyn couldn't hide her excitement; her face broke out in a giant grin, her green eyes glittering._

_"When I was younger, I used to very much enjoy visiting the zoo," Daniel explained. "I thought it would be a more enjoyable experience than dealing with more testing."_

_xxxx_

_They spent the day wandering around the huge area of land that was the zoo, hand in hand. Daniel was enjoying being able to explain what he knew about the animals to Rosalyn. She listened to him intently, smiling and nodding, whether she'd already known the facts he was telling her or not. She was just glad to be out together, holding hands, acting like a regular couple._

_xxxx_

_The day had passed quicker than Rosalyn would have liked. At the end of it all, they were snuggled up in her bed, quietly chatting. "Did you enjoy yourself today?" Daniel whispered in between kissing her._

_"It was the best date ever," she assured her. She smiled at him again and pressed another kiss to his mouth. However, this one felt different. Sad. She pulled back from him and looked into his eyes, searching for an answer. "What's wrong? Did you not have fun?"_

_"I had a wonderful time, Rosalyn." His voice was still off. "It…" he sighed, seeming to be searching for the words. "May I tell you something?"_

_"Anything."_

_"If I tell you this," he grasped onto her arm, his grip tight, almost painful, "you cannot tell anyone else. You must promise me."_

_"I promise," Rosalyn swore, reaching up and brushing a stray black hair off his forehead. _

_"It could get us both killed," he asserted, trying to impress the importance of it on her. She only nodded in response. "I have not told any one other than you, my dearest. My name…" he let the unfinished sentence hang there._

_"What about it?"_

_"My name is not Daniel Lukas." When her eyebrows knotted in confusion, he continued, "I wish to tell you my real name. But you cannot repeat it to anyone, or even let anyone know you know."_

_"I swear, I'll never tell, Daniel."_

_His lips curved up into a smile before he leaned down, his hot breath brushing her ear as he whispered the name to her. "Please keep your promise, Rosalyn. I could not bear it if something were to happen to you," he told her as he pulled back._

_"I will," she swore to him, snuggling herself into his chest. She realized something was different now, as she began to doze off, laying on him. She knew everything was different, but she wasn't sure what._

_xxxx_

_The next morning, she'd awoken alone in bed. It wasn't unusual, as they had been trying to keep their relationship as quiet as possible. However, when she got to the lab, Starfleet personnel were removing everything. When she demanded to see Daniel, she was brushed off. Her experiment was being confiscated. She soon realized Daniel was gone and wasn't coming back._

_Her life was spiraling out of control._

XXXX

Jim had only just begun to doze off when he felt Rosie's body tense up beneath his arm. At first he thought maybe he'd moved, leaned on a bruised spot, so he quickly withdrew his arm. It became obvious quickly though, that Jim hadn't bumped a sore spot; Rosie was having a dream. And a bad one from the looks of it.

"Computer, lights to twenty five percent," Jim said out loud, brightening the room a bit. Then he gently placed his hand on Rosie's shoulder and nudged her. "Rosie," he said as gently as he could, "come on, baby. Wake up."

He wasn't sure if he'd woken her or if the dream had as she bolted upright, chest heaving. She glanced around for a few moments, seemingly unsure of where she was before her eyes focused. "Jim," she managed to squeak out before hurling herself across the bed at him.

She clung to him, her arms around his neck. Jim rubbed his hands soothingly up and down her back, whispering to her, "It was just a dream. Everything's fine." When she'd calmed down a bit, Bones' words began to echo in his head. He shifted their position so he was leaning against the headboard of the bed, with Rosie's head pressed into his chest. "You okay?" he asked. She gave some sort of unintelligible mumbled while nodding her head. "Do you want to talk about it? The dream?"

**XXXX**

**A/N: Ooh. A glimpse of Rosie's past. Hope you guys enjoyed :) As always, feedback is always always always appreciated. Please don't hesitate to let me know what you thought, be it good, bad, or constructive!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: As usual, still only own Rosie.**

**XXXX**

"Do you want to talk about it? The dream?" Rosie heard Jim ask. She debated with herself for a few moments, unsure of what to do. "You don't have to if you don't want to…" Jim tried again, changing tactics. He afraid he was making her uncomfortable. "I just thought…maybe…"

She shifted her weight and scooted off of his chest. Now sitting up, her legs crossed, she kept her gaze fixed to her lap when she answer, "No, no. We can talk about it."

"Are you sure? You really don't have to if you don't want to." Jim pushed a tangled mass of blond hair out of her face, hoping to get her to look at him.

It worked; she tilted her head up, her gaze shifting up to his face. "It's just…weird. To tell you about it." Jim nodded, reaching over and taking her hand, pulling it to him. He didn't say anything, though. Rosie looked thoughtful for a few moments, her eyes leaving Jim's face to glance off to the side, like they always did when she was about to relate a story. "It was about…Daniel," Rosie hesitated a bit before saying the name.

Jim racked his brain as hard as he could; he knew he'd never heard her mention the name before. Finally, he gave up trying to figure it out, "Daniel?"

"My ex."

"That was his name?"

"…Yes." Rosie seemed to hesitate again. She shifted on the bed, "Commander Daniel Lukas."

"Sorry," Jim thought he was making her uncomfortable again. He quickly continued, trying to explain himself, "I didn't know that was his name. You've always just referred to him as your ex when we talked about him and…"

"I know," Rosie cut him off. "I know. It's just…hard to talk about." Jim squeezed her hand reassuringly. "I was…the dream…it was of the day we spent together before he disappeared. He took me to the zoo. Like a date. Our first normal date."

"I'm sorry," Jim didn't know what else to say. It was awkward for him to hear the sorrow in Rosie's voice over another man, but he wanted to help. To make her feel better.

A tear slipped out of her eye, and she swiped it away before continuing, "I knew something was different that night. It just felt like it. Then, the next morning when I went to the lab, Starfleet officers were tearing it apart. The plans and blueprints were deleted, the machinery was being disassembled, everything. The only answer I could get was that they project was officially classified as a failure and was being thrown out. I tried to find Daniel…I thought if I found him and told him what was going on, he'd be able to stop it. People usually listened to him…I was just some teenager. But he was missing. No one would tell me where he was."

Jim pulled her to him again. He knew how this story ended. Daniel was gone. The man was even deleted from Starfleet records, like he'd never existed in the first place.

"I lied though," Rosie mumbled against his chest. "I'm sorry I lied to you when we first talked about him."

"What'd you lie about?" Jim's curiosity at that outweighed his anger.

"That day, in the study room. I told you I'd never had any contact with him again. I lied." Rosie felt Jim's body tense up underneath hers. Quickly, she tried to backtrack, "Well only sort of lied. Really, Jim. Please don't be mad! I should've phrased it differently. I've never seen him again. But…but I did get a message from him." She twisted so she was laying on top of him, looking up at him. "Please don't be mad."

Jim tried to stuff down his anger, not wanting to make her think she couldn't tell him things. "Okay," he managed to choke out, sounding slightly normal. "Okay. How many messages? Are you still getting them?"

"No," she shook her head rapidly. "No. Just the one. I found it the night I got back to my quarters after being released from medical. After the…the attack."

"So while you were in medical, he broke into your quarters and left you a message."

Rosie nodded, climbing off the bed. She moved over towards her dresser. She opened the drawer, but didn't take anything out at first. "After the explosion, you asked me if the shirt Len picked out of my drawer was his," she said slowly, pulling the aforementioned shirt out of the drawer. She held the button down shirt in her hands, looking at it as she spoke, "You asked me if the shirt was Daniel's. Yes, I remember," she told him when she caught sight of the confusion on Jim's face. "You want to know why I kept it."

"Well, yeah. But you were high on painkillers, and I just didn't think it was a good time and…then it never really came back up. What does this have to do with the message he left you?"

She moved back over to the bed and sat down next to Jim. "He left the message with the shirt. That's why I kept it." She reached into the shirt and showed Jim the tiny pocket that was inside. It was invisible from the outside of the shirt. Rosie pulled a piece of paper out of the pocket and handed it to him.

_I am sorry_, the paper read. "That's it?"

"That's it. The shirt was just laying on my bed with the note in it." Rosie was looking down at her lap again. "I'm really sorry, Jim. I should've told you sooner. I just…I don't know. We were just friends back then, and I didn't think it mattered."

"It doesn't matter," Jim told her, hurriedly. "He's the past. You're here now. I love you," he reached out and tugged her into a kiss. He could feel her smiling now, which relaxed him. He pulled her on top of him, never breaking the kiss.

Jim's hand was skimming the hem of her shirt when the comm sounded. "Captain Kirk," Uhura's voice was calling him throughout the ship.

Jim groaned, tossing his head back in frustration. Rosie laughed gently, nudging him off the bed. "Go answer her."

Jim stomped across the room to the comm and flipped the switch to talk. "Kirk here," he grumbled.

"Captain," Uhura sounded annoyingly cheerful, as if she already knew what she'd interrupted. "I have an incoming message from Starfleet for you. Do you want to take it there or…"

"I'll be on the bridge soon. Kirk out," Jim cut her off and sighed. He began putting his boots back on, grumbling the entire time. "Are you cleared to be on the bridge?" he asked when he was done.

"Len didn't say I was or wasn't…so…I'm going with I am. I'll be there soon."

"Soon?"

"I've got to change," Rosie laughed, gesturing to the clothes Bones had given her in sickbay.

"What if I ordered you to go dressed like that?"

"I'd ignore you."

"I could help…find your uniform you know…"

"Get out of here!" Rosie laughed, managing to push Jim out the doors. He stood there for a moment. "You'd never get to the bridge if you did that. See you soon." She stood up on her toes and kissed him again, shutting the doors after she pulled back.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Woohoo another chapter :) I want to thank everyone who's taken the time to review. It's always nice and encouraging to know people are enjoying it. Thank you to everyone who's followed/favorited as well. Thanks for sticking around so long to the returning readers (I recognize you! :) ) and welcome to the new ones! Anywho, like always feedback is super awesome and helpful, so please don't hesitate to let me know what you think!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I only own Rosie.**

**XXXX**

Rosie stripped out of her sickbay outfit and tossed on a clean uniform dress as quickly as she could manage. After slipping on her boots, she bustled out of the room, heading for the bridge. Her quarters weren't far from it, and it didn't take her long to enter the turbolift.

She was just finishing pulling her hair back into a ponytail as she walked into the room. Jim was sitting in the captain's chair, facing away from her. Dr. McCoy also happened to be on the bridge, trying to convince Spock to at least let him look him over after the accident on the planet. "I am in adequate health, Doctor," the Vulcan was continually assuring him, while keeping his eyes fixed on the sensor readings in front of him.

"I just want to make sure. You ran down that hill after her. You could've…"

"Oh, leave him alone," Rosie interrupted, moving over to stand by Bones. "He said he's fine. And as we all know so well, thanks to Mr. Spock's continual reminding, Vulcans don't lie."

Bones' eyes narrowed a bit when he turned to her. "I don't remember clearin' you to go back to work."

"And I don't remember you saying I wasn't clear," she smirked up at the doctor. "So I must be okay." Bones rolled his eyes, exasperated with the young engineer. He was about to offer some comeback, when Jim moved over to the little group they'd formed in the corner of the bridge. "Did you get your message from Starfleet?" Rosie's attention turned quickly to him.

"Yeah, yeah I did."

"Anything interesting?"

"Starfleet's been getting a lot of reports of accidents and deaths from a mining colony on this planet, Janus VI. Weird stuff. People vanishing. Touching rocks on the wall and getting acid burns. It's been going on for about a month now. Anyway, they want us to head that way and see if we can help avoid any more accidents. It's pretty far off our course, but it's not a big deal, so we don't have to rush over there. Probably will take a few weeks to get there."

"Well that's all fine and dandy, Jim," Bones broke into the conversation, "but Rosie here definitely doesn't have my go-ahead to be at work yet. You look like you didn't sleep at all." The doctor was looking closely at her.

"It wasn't my fault!" Jim held up his hands in surrender. "I swear!"

"I had a…bad dream…" Rosie admitted, looking down at her shoes. "Jim didn't have anything to do with it."

"Then you are coming with me," Bones grasped her shoulder gently and began to maneuver her off the bridge, despite her protests.

XXXX

A little while later, the PADD that was sitting on the arm of the captain's chair next to Jim chimed, indicating he had a message waiting.

_Bones dragged me back to sickbay. Gave me a sedative. Annoying doctor. Will be asleep soon. _

_Xo Rosie_

_PS: Apologize to Spock._

Jim typed a reply back quickly, hoping the sedative wasn't too fast-acting:

_I'll take you back to my quarters after this shift. Fine, I'll apologize._

_Jim_

Jim sighed and stood up from his chair. He smoothed out his gold uniform shirt before speaking, "Mr. Spock, can I see you in the ready room?"

"Yes, Captain." Spock stopped what he was doing and got up, following Jim into the ready room that was attached to the bridge.

When the doors slid shut behind them, Jim ran a hand through his hair, unsure of how to begin. "Look, Spock…" he started, hoping the Vulcan would help him out. When Spock didn't say anything, just continued to stare at him blankly, he kept going, "I really overreacted in sickbay. I'm really sorry about that."

"Indeed, you did overreact, Captain," Spock finally said something. "However, it was as humans would say…understandable given the circumstances surrounding the event."

"I mean, I know it was stupid," Jim kept rambling on. "I was freaking out and….wait." Spock's words finally registered in Jim's mind. "Did you just say my overreaction was understandable?"

"I did, Captain," Spock inclined his head to the side as he offered up his explanation. "Rosie was in danger, although you did exaggerate in your mind the amount of danger, so you reacted with anger, trying to find someone to blame. I am told this is a normal human reaction in such a case. Rosie is your mate…"

Jim felt his face heat up at that. "I wouldn't…wouldn't use the term mate, Spock."

While Spock made no real indication that he'd reacted to what Jim said, Jim swore he could see a mental sigh happening in the Vulcan's brain. "You have committed yourselves to one another. Therefore, your emotions regarding her are very strong and cause you to act more impulsively than usual."

"Yeah. That's more accurate." Jim ran a hand through his hair again, hoping he didn't look as embarrassed as he felt. "I just wanted to apologize, anyway. I'll try to be less…erratic if something similar ever comes up again."

Spock nodded, acknowledging that he accepted the apology, even though his face clearly said it wasn't necessary. Jim walked past him to the doors, but didn't get out them. "Captain?"

"Yeah?" Jim stopped in the doorway and turned back to the Vulcan.

"Please inform Rosie when you have a chance that I have accepted your apology. It will put her mind at ease."

"What?"

"It is obvious that you did not apologize of your own volition," Spock raised an eyebrow. "One would assume Rosie told you to."

Jim flushed again and mumbled something unintelligible as he hurried back to his chair on the bridge.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Sorry for the short chapter! Busy-ish day at work today. As always, feedback is awesome, so please let me know what you think! :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I only own Rosie.**

**XXXX**

Once Jim had finished his duty shift on the bridge, he quickly made his way down the halls of the ship to sickbay. The day had crept by painfully slow, and he was eager to see Rosie. However, when the doors to sickbay slid open, Jim found himself in an empty room. "Rosie?" he called out, glancing at each of the empty medical cots. "Bones?"

It only took a moment for the doctor to stomp his way around the corner from the back of the room. He looked particularly grouchy, as he twisted a towel around his hand, clearly wiping something off. Jim didn't want to know what he'd been up to back there. "She's not here, Jim" Bones informed his as he tossed the towel into a biohazard basket to be sterilized. "Damn stubborn girl."

"What happened?"

"I gave her a sedative, and she was out like any normal person," the doctor grumbled in his Southern accent. He rolled his eyes at the memory before he continued, "At first she seemed to be fine, but about halfway through the day she became really restless in her sleep. Tossin' and turnin'."

"Was she okay?" Jim's concern spiked now. "Did she have another nightmare?"

"That's what I assumed was goin' on," Bones looked annoyed, interpreting Jim's rambling as questioning his medical practices. "I wanted her to be able to sleep some more. You know she never sleeps enough, even when she's not in here for an injury." The doctor waved an arm around, gesturing to room. Jim silently nodded his agreement. "So I was goin' to give her something to calm her down. I had the hypospray prepped and everything, and suddenly she's awake. I tried to get her to lay back down, but she's babblin' that she's fine, not tried." The doctor shook his head. "I tried to get another sedative prepped, because she was actin' so irrationally, but somehow she managed to get dressed and flee sickbay before I was even done with it."

"Have you talked to her? Where'd she end up going?"

"Haven't been able to get her to talk to me. Called her on the comm a few times. Where do you think she went, Jim?"

Jim sighed. He knew where she went. "I'll go see if I can get her out of engineering. I'm not bringing her back here though. We'll be in my quarters."

XXXX

Rosie didn't even noticed when Jim entered engineering. He stood there for a while, just watching her. She was lying on the floor next to Scotty, their heads underneath a console with Rosie's hands jammed up into the machinery. "So, like I said, I think if we tweak this connection right here…" she babbled on. Her hands, at least what Jim could see of them, were covered in some dark, slimy looking substance.

"Here, lass," Scotty blindly reached over, grasped some tool, and handed it to her. "I think ye may be correct."

"Could you…" Rosie began to ask.

"Yeah," Scotty answered before she could finish the question. He reached up, sticking his hand where her other hand, which was now holding the tool, had been. Jim liked watching the two work together. He always found it impressive that they could manage such complex engineering, some of which he didn't even understand, without really talking to each other. "You alright?" Scotty asked when her fingers started slipping.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good," she assured him, her eyebrows scrunched in concentration. "It just such a small spot."

"It is. I cannae fit my hand in there as well as you can."

"Got it!" Rosie smiled and handed the tool back over to Scotty. She scooted back out from under the console and wiped her dirty hands down her dress, streaking it with the black goop. "Now we just need to run a few tests…oh hi, Jim." She noticed him finally.

Jim always waited for her to notice him when in engineering. He was slightly afraid if he tried to get her attention, something would blow up or electrocute her or crush her. "Heard you escaped from sickbay."

Rosie grinned a bit. "Yeah…sorry. I know I was supposed to meet you there, but I just couldn't stay." She pushed a strand of hair out of her face and left a black smudge across her forehead.

"I heard the story," Jim told her, as he offered her a hand to pull her up, wincing a little as she slid her dirty one into his. It was as slimy as it looked, and he made sure to grasp her hand extra tight to avoid dropping her as he hauled her up from the floor. "What are you guys doing?

"Trying to increase the speed of the transporter processor."

"Aye, it was Rosie's idea, Captain," Scotty told him as he stood up. "I've been teaching the lass about transporters, and she had this idea, so we decided to try it out. We've got a mini transporter in here, and if it works out, we'd have asked you if we could try it on the full size one."

"Well, that's very interesting," Jim told them both. "But, Bones said he wants you to get a little more rest, so I think Mr. Scott here will be running those tests without you. Come on." Jim guided her away from Scotty, ignoring her protests.

XXXX

Once they were back in Jim's quarters, Jim had insisted on a shower for Rosie. While she cleaned up, he found her one of his tshirts to wear and tossed it into the bathroom for her. He then flopped down on the bed to wait. When she emerged, she crawled up the bed and snuggled into him. "You want to tell me what happened in sickbay?"

"Same thing as earlier. Except you weren't there."

"Oh."

"Can we not talk about this again?"

"Okay, yeah. Sure," Jim assured her as he maneuvered them into a more comfortable position. "Oh, I apologized like you asked. Spock accepted the apology."

Rosie snorted a bit. "He told you to say that." She ignored Jim's pouting as she rolled over and closed her eyes.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait! Busy weekend. Hope you enjoyed :) As always, I love feedback, good, bad, or critical, so don't hesitate to let me know what you thought!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I only own Rosie.**

**XXXX**

The weeks were busy, filled with work, and passed quickly. Between Rosie working with Scotty on their experiment with the transporters and Jim having Captain duties to fulfill, there hadn't been much time for them to be alone. There had been a few away-missions that had required Rosie's assistance, and Jim had begrudgingly let her go without much of a fight. She was content about that, finally happy they were reaching some sort of halfway point for them.

Rosie was in her quarters curled up in a chair, reading through some technical engineering reports. She always enjoyed them, as they usually tended to include new, valuable information that she would try to implement in some function of engineering one way or another the next chance she got. But this time, her mind was wandering. She didn't have a duty shift and was trying to pass the time until Jim was back on board the _Enterprise_.

Jim was down on the planet they were currently orbiting. He was there to play ambassador for the Federation, as they were the only ship that had currently been in a reasonable distance from the planet. Rosie knew it was a peace mission, just for Jim to show his face and promote the Federation's good will, but she was nervous. It was actually the first time he'd been sent planet-side without her being on the bridge to monitor him or actually with him. She knew there was no major need to track him; the planet's inhabitants weren't violent. She also knew he was down there with Spock and, at her insistence, a rather large undercover security detail. But as the hours had ticked past with no word from him, she was getting more and more worried.

She was about to get up and go check in with the bridge personnel anyway, when Jim waltzed into her quarters unannounced. "Jim!" Her mood immediately brightened as she place the PADD she'd been reading her engineering reports to the side. "I didn't know you were back yet. I told the transporter engineer on duty to let me know when you were. I was waiting for you."

"Well," Jim was grinning ear to ear as he walked across the room to her. "That's because I ordered him not to tell you." He placed a hand on either side of the chair she was in before leaning down and kissing her.

She was frowning when he pulled back and looked at her. "Why'd you do that?"

"Because," he laughed a bit, leaning down to kiss her again, "I wanted to surprise you."

"Meanie," she said laughing when he pulled back this time. "Could you put this in my desk?" She handed him the PADD. He took it and moved across the room. As he pulled open the middle drawer, she added, "I was worried about you, you know."

He chuckled as he set the PADD in the drawer. "Now you know how…" he trailed off when something caught his eye. He reached into the drawer and pulled it out. "What is this?" he asked, even though he knew what the little piece of equipment in his palm was.

"What's wha…" Rosie stopped when she noticed what was in his hand. "Oh."

"Oh is right," Jim growled as he stalked across the room. He held the skin regenerator in front of her. "The only reason I can come up with for you having a skin regenerator in your desk is if you've been using that experiment that you and your ex created. You know, the one you promised me you would never use again, because it's killed so many people. With a skin regenerator in here, you wouldn't have to go to sickbay to be patched up after using it." When Rosie didn't say anything in response and simply looked down at her lap, Jim yelled again, "What the hell! You promised me!"

"I…I…" Rosie scrambled for some sort of answer. "It's….easier to diagnose and fix some engineering problems with it…it…"

"I don't care what it does!" Jim hollered as he chucked the piece of equipment across the room. "I let it go that you lied to me about having heard from your ex that one time because we didn't even know each other, but I can't believe you would be lying to me about this!" And with that, Jim stormed out.

XXXX

A few hours later, Rosie heard the doors to her quarters opening again, but she didn't get out of her bed to see who it was. She felt the bed dip as the weight of a body sat down on it. "You alright darlin'?" Bones voice was a welcome change.

"No," she sniffled.

"Jim told me what happened. Have you talked to him?"

"I tried calling him on the comm," Rosie rolled over to face the doctor. "He won't answer me. I know what I did was wrong. I keep trying to apologize."

"He'll come around, darlin'. He will. Eventually."

XXXX

A few days passed, and Rosie was starting to think Bones was wrong. Jim hadn't come around yet. He avoided her when they were off the bridge. He ignored her comms and messages.

Today was no different. The bridge atmosphere was tense, as she and Jim both had a duty shift at the same time. He acknowledged her working, albeit tersely. There wasn't much happening, when Uhura announced, "Captain, I'm receiving a distress call from Janus VI."

"Put it on the view screen," Jim told her.

The screen crackled for a moment before the face of a man appeared on screen. "If anyone is receiving this," the voice garbled electronically for a bit, "I am Chief Engineer Vanderberg of the Janus VI mining colony. Over the past few months, there have been multiple attacks and injuries sustained by our personnel here, even a few deaths, due to an unknown cause. We have been waiting patiently for assistance. However, in the past few weeks the attacks and increased greatly and now our death count has risen to fifty people."

As the distress call rattled on, Sulu announced, "We can be at the colony in two days if we use maximum warp, Sir."

Jim didn't hesitate for a moment, "Lay in a course for Janus VI, then. Uhura, let them know we're on our way."

**XXXX**

**A/N: Phew this was a tough chapter to write! Hope you enjoyed :) Hope all my readers from the US had a good 4th of July and holiday weekend! As always, please let me know what you thought!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I only own Rosie.**

**XXXX**

On Janus VI, the situation was getting more and more tense as the _Enterprise_ approached the planet. The mining crew as getting jumpy, afraid of more unseen attacks. All had been quiet for a few hours, and Chief Engineer Vanderberg was hoping it would stay that way as he led Schmitter, a lower ranking miner, to the guard post to replace Sam.

The paranoia of the crew was highlighted when, as Vanderberg led Schmitter and the rest of the crew towards the mouth of the tunnel Sam was in, the sounds of their movement caused Sam to leap up, phaser ready, and yell, "Who's there?"

"It's your relief, Sam," Vanderberg announced as he rounded the corner, the rest of the crew following suit. He watched as Sam visibly relaxed, lowering his phaser almost immediately. "All quiet here?"

"I didn't see a thing, Chief," Sam answered.

Vanderberg sighed. "Nobody ever does."

"Whatever this thing it, it's already killed over fifty people," Schmitter started babbling. He was newer to the guard rotation and was, understandably, afraid, but Vanderberg wasn't in the mood to have the statistics of the colony's death count related to him again. Schmitter babbled on, "I never realized how dark it is down here before."

"Stay on your toes, Schmitter," Vanderberg told him, ready to move on and relieve the next guard. "Keep your phaser in your hand at all times."

"What good will that do?" Now Schmitter was almost whining. "You saw what happened to Ed Appel when he took a shot at the thing. How about all those other people before the monster got them?"

Vanderberg was too tired and too stressed out to continue listening to the man now. "I'm sorry, Schmitter. I know how you feel, but we have to have guards placed in the tunnels."

"Okay, Chief," Schmitter finally acquiesced. "I'll do what I can."

"Keep alert. If you see or hear anything, you call it in. You got that?" Schmitter nodded rapidly. "I mean it. Anything. Somebody can be here in three minutes."

"A lot can happen in three minutes," Schmitter mumbled to himself, looking down at his shoes. He looked up rapidly, as if he just remembered something. "Chief," he stopped Vanderberg from leaving again, "is it true the _Enterprise_ is on its way?"

"It's coming."

"Do you think it could get here in the next four hours?" Schmitter was desperately hoping for reinforcements to either cut his guard duty short or eliminate it entirely.

"You'll be alright," Vanderberg told him, patting his arm. He was glad to be done with the conversation finally. He moved away from the nervous miner and started leading the rest of the group down a tunnel to continue on with relieving the other guards.

They were only a little way down the next tunnel when they heard Schimmter's scream. They raced back to the opening where they'd left him, but they were too late. Schmitter's body was blackened and brittle, lying on the floor, burnt to a crisp.

XXXX

On the _Enterprise_, Jim was starting to feel guilty about how he'd been treating Rosie. It had taken quite a few days and numerous talkin'-to's from Bones, but it was starting to sink in that yeah, she'd been wrong, but his reaction had been wrong too.

He knew he'd overreacted again. He knew that deep in the recesses of his mind he probably was aware that she'd been using the experiment, because it was really useful in some ways. But only to her obviously. Any other captain would and should be making use of a special piece of equipment like that, but here he was yelling and forbidding an engineer to use it, because he was in a relationship with her and was afraid of what it could do to her.

He was heading towards engineering. He knew he had to find her and apologize for avoiding her, although he wasn't going to apologize for being mad. _I had every right to be mad that she was using it behind my back_, he rationalized to himself as he kept walking. They were almost at Janus VI, a little bit less than two hours away. Everything was in order, so it was the perfect time to talk to her and not have any distractions.

As he rounded the corner into engineering though, he still hadn't caught sight of her anywhere. Scotty however, saw him. "Captain!" the Scotsman shouted when Jim tried to pretend he hadn't seen him.

"Hey, Scotty!" Jim plastered on a fake smile and waved at the engineer. "How're things going down here?"

"Alrigh' I suppose," Scotty told him as he crossed the distance between them so he didn't have to keep shouting. "Look, Captain, I know it's not really my place…" he started.

"What're you talking about?"

"I know you an' Rosie have not been talking much lately," Scotty explained warily, unsure if he was crossing a line with having such a personal discussion with Jim. "She's been real upset. She's not been very productive since you two had your fight."

"Oh," was all that Jim would come up with in response to that.

"Now, her productivity, that isn't what bothers me," Scotty continued on when it didn't seem Jim was going to react adversely to the conversation. "Not that at all. I mean, everybody had days here and there where they're tired or not at their full potential. We have more than enough engineers to keep things running smoothly down here."

"Then what's wrong?" Jim's anxiety level was now skyrocketing.

"Well," Scotty seemed to hesitate for a moment, but continued, "she cannae focus on the work she does do." When Jim didn't seem to grasp what Scotty was getting at, the engineer added, "She's distracted when she is working. And somehow, whenever she gets distracted, she gets herself hurt."

"What do you mean?" Jim choked out the words.

"The past few days I've have to send her to see Dr. McCoy multiple times a day," Scotty sighed. "I think he told her if she got hurt down here one more time, he was going to write her up as emotionally compromised and force her to not work until the two of you worked whatever this is out. So…I'm extra concerned about that because she just left here about an hour ago injured again, and I don't think she'll be heading to sickbay to be patched up."

"Shit," Jim swore. "I'll find her."

XXXX

Jim had moved as quickly as he could without looking frantic to Rosie's quarters. Now that he stood outside the doors, however, he was hesitating. He wasn't sure she was in there, and he didn't know if she even wanted to see him. Finally, he gave up the internal debate and rang the chime on the door.

He waited a few moments, but not surprisingly, she didn't answer. He rang it again, and when she still didn't answer, he pressed the button next to the chime to talk. "Rosie," he said into the speaker, knowing if she was in there, the machinery was carrying his voice to her. "It's me. It's Jim. Come on, let me in."

It took a few more moments, but the doors slid open. Jim stepped into Rosie's quarters and spotted her. She was sitting on her loveseat, her back to the doors. All he could make out of her was the back of her head, her blond hair tumbling down over her shoulders. "Hi Jim." He could tell she was trying to sound as normal as possible.

Jim walked around moved to sit next to her on the loveseat. She quickly turned he head away from him, so he could only see the left half of her face. "Hey, Rosie." When she didn't say anything in response, he tried again, "Look, I know I've acted like a complete ass these past few days…"

"No," she cut him off, still keeping her face turned. "No, you were right. I should've told you I was still using it. I couldn't come up with a way to tell you without upsetting you. You're always so paranoid about me getting hurt or whatever, and I just was afraid you'd get upset about it. And you did."

"I was upset," Jim agreed, "But the way I reacted about it…that was terrible. It was like all that time before it, when we were talking and trying to get over being worried about the other one's job hazards we were making good progress. And then I did that. It was like I took one step forward and two steps back." She still wouldn't look at him. "Come on, Rosie. Please, look at me," Jim said as he reached out to turn her face towards him.

When she finally was facing him, he saw why she was looking away. It wasn't that she didn't want to look at him, she wanted to hide the right half of her face from him. Beneath her eye was a giant black bruise. "Ouch," she mumbled as Jim's thumb grazed the edges of it.

"What happened?"

"I was working on something overhead…" she trailed off, trying to recall the incident. "I can't remember what. All I remember is holding this heavy wrench over my head working. And then I started thinking about you and…I can't focus on anything when I'm thinking about you. I hate when you're mad at me, Jim," Rosie was starting to ramble.

"Rosie," Jim stopped her. "Just tell me what happened."

"I was working, and I guess I dropped the wrench. It must've hit me."

"And you didn't go see Bones, because you didn't want him to make you not able to work," Jim finished for her. "Scotty told me."

"I'm sorry. I should've talked to you about it." Tears welled up in her eyes. "I'm really really sorry."

"I'm sorry for freaking out as bad as I did," Jim mumbled as he pulled her into a hug. "Come on," he pushed her back out of the hug in a few moments. "Let's go see if Bones can do anything for that bruise now."

Sniffling, Rosie smiled at him and let him lead her towards sickbay. After a good ten minutes of Dr. McCoy yelling at the pair, he patched her up as best he could. The bruise was faded, but still visible since he hadn't been able to treat it right away. That way, just in time for their arrival at Janus VI, everything was almost back to normal on the _Enterprise_.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Okay, so long chapter this time to make up for my slacking on the last two. I know, I know it took forever to get this one up. I'm trying to space it out so once I finish this one, Into Darkness will be on DVD so I can make the next story stick to the storyline as closely as possible. Hope you all enjoyed the new chapter! Let me know whatcha think!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Still only own Rosie.**

**XXXX**

Spock and Dr. McCoy were all ready waiting in the transporter room when Jim and Rosie entered it. "Wait, wait, wait, Jim," Rosie grabbed at his wrist. He stopped walking and turned to face her. "So," she fiddled with his gold uniform shirt, straightening it a bit and brushing imaginary dust off, "you're just going down to meet with Chief Engineer Vanderberg right now, right?" She could feel both Spock's and Bones' eyes scanning her face, staring at the still visible dark spot under her eye. She tried to ignore it.

"Right now, yeah," Jim nodded. "That's the plan."

"Okay," Rosie smoothed her hands across his shoulders, still working at his shirt. "Okay. Let me know if you need anything. I'm just a comm away. Be safe."

"When am I ever not safe?" She scowled at him. Jim laughed and kissed her lightly. "So far the only unsafe thing I'm doing here is letting you beam us down to the colony. Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Yes already!" Rosie sighed exasperatedly. Jim was trying to distract her from the fact that over fifty people had been killed on the surface of this planet. She knew he was. It was working a little bit, too. "Scotty's been teaching me about transporters for months now. I've got the hang of simple transporting. I can get you guys to the surface and back, no problem."

"Good," Jim flashed her a smile and moved towards the transporter pad. "You guys ready?" he asked the doctor and the Vulcan.

"Affirmative, Captain," Spock announced.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Bones grumbled.

The three of them moved onto the pad. When they were situated, Jim looked back to Rosie, who was standing behind the console. "Whenever you're ready."

She smiled at him as she tapped a few keys. "Okay, guys. Transport in three…two…one…Energize." The transporter pad lit up brightly, and in a moment, the three were gone from the room.

XXXX

When Jim, Bones, and Spock finished the transport, they had appeared in a tunnel. Jim shot Bones a cocky smirk, "See? Told you she could do it."

"Yeah, yeah."

Before Jim could come up with a sarcastic response however, a man dressed in bright orange coveralls walked in front of the trio, and said, "Follow me."

Jim shrugged and began following him, the other two following Jim after a moment.

XXXX

Rosie hurried her way through the halls of the _Enterprise_. The transporter room wasn't all that far from the bridge, but after having transported the guys down to the surface, it seemed to her to take forever to get there.

When she finally entered the bridge, the only crewmember she recognized was Chekov. He was sitting at the helm, looking down at the screen, his crazy curls tumbling every which way. She moved over towards the young Russian and asked him, "Are they okay? Did they make it there safe?"

Chekov knew what she was talking about immediately. "Yes, Ma'am," he told her in his accent. "Commander Spock has informed us zhat zhey have successfully transported to zee colony and are on zheir vay to meet vith Wanderberg."

"Oh good," she let out a sigh of relief. She knew she'd completed the transport correctly, but she just needed to hear it from someone else. "Keep me updated, please."

"Of course, Ma'am."

XXXX

The trio down on the planet had been escorted into a meeting room where they'd been introduced to Chief Engineer Vanderberg. He'd been ranting about the time it had taken the Federation to respond after his first initial call for help. "So," he told Jim, "this monster has been killing off my people left and right. Something needs to be done."

"All right," Jim said, still confused about some of the details. "Let's assume there is a monster. What's it done? Where did the attacks start?"

Vanderberg crossed his arms across his chest. So far, he was not impressed with the young captain. "About three months ago, we opened up a new level," he began explaining. "The sensors were giving us unusually rich pergium readings. And not only pergium. Whatever you want."

"Could you elaborate further?" Spock was intrigued. He was considering perhaps he and Rosie could come back once the matter of the monster was settled and look into the readings themselves. If the captain would allow him to, obviously, after what had happened the last time they were taking elemental sensor readings together.

"Like I said," Vanderberg was clearly annoyed. "Whatever you want. Uranium. Serium. Platinum. The whole damn planet's like that. It's a treasure trove."

"I see," Jim was annoyed that that hadn't come up in their preparations. "But the mining conditions are difficult," he added, hoping to gain some ground in the discussion.

"Right," Vanderberg agreed. "If Janus VI were more easily mined, it could supply the mineral needs of a thousand planets."

"But what happened?" Jim tried to steer the conversation back to its purpose. "What about this monster?"

Vanderberg began to pace around the room as he related the story. "Well, first the automated machinery started to almost…" he stopped, looking for a word, "disintegrate piece by piece. Metal just dissolving away. There was no reason for it, and the chemists here were unable to analyze whatever the corrosive agent was."

"I am sure there is an answer," Spock added. "It has simply not yet been discovered."

"Yes, it has," Vanderberg bristled at Spock's statement. "I don't know what this butchering monster is, but I know what it's doing." Vanderberg stormed across the room and yanked a map out of the wall. He pointed to the map, "It's using the tunnels here somehow. When we sent engineers to repair the machinery, we found them burnt to a crisp."

"Volcanic activity, maybe?" Jim mumbled to Spock while Vanderberg ranted.

"No, Captain," Spock whispered back. "There is no volcanic activity currently on this planet."

Vanderberg continued on uninterrupted, "At first the deaths were occurring only deep down in the planet, but now they've moved up and occurring on our levels up here. The last man's death occurred just days ago, a few levels below this one."

"If I may," that was Bones place now to just into the conversation, "I'd like to examine the body."

"We kept it for you," Vanderberg assured him. "But there isn't much left." He seemed apologetic about that. "Roberts will show it to you." Another man in orange coveralls came and led Bones out of the room.

Jim kept up his interrogation, "You posted guards?"

"Of course," Vanderberg scoffed. "Five of them have died. Only one person's caught a glimpse of it. Said it's big, but that's about it. He managed to shoot it."

"Shoot it?" Spock's eyebrow raised up. "You mean shot at it."

"No, he shot it," Vanderberg raised a phaser, "with this. It didn't even slow it down."

"Fascinating," was all that Spock answered.

"Well, I've made my report to you," Vanderberg was done talking. "Production's stopped here. Nobody will go down into the lower levels. Not that I blame them. If the Federation wants its pergium, you're going to have to do something about it."

"That's why we're here," Jim tried to assure him. "I'll need a complete chart of all the drifts, galleries, tunnels, whatever."

"I'll get that for you," Vanderberg said as he promptly left the room, leaving Jim and Spock alone in the office.

"Captain," Spock said, his voice loud in the empty room, "for someone so keen on requiring assistance, Vanderberg does not seem entirely pleased with our presence here."

"No, he does not," Jim agreed.

**XXXX**

**A/N: New chapter! Hope you guys enjoyed it! Sorry it's kinda more informational than usual. Gotta set up the situation on Janus VI before we get to the exciting stuff. As always, please let me know what you thought!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Still only own Rosie. **

**XXXX**

Before Jim could say anything else, his communicator chirped. He pulled the little machine off his belt, flipping its gold colored top open, "Kirk here."

"How's it going down there?" Rosie's voice came through the machine.

"Fine," Jim answered her, his face breaking into a smile at the sound of her voice. "Vanderberg's pretty angry at the whole situation, and doesn't seem to be very happy with us but…"

Spock moved away from Jim, closer to the one desk in the room to give him some privacy. It wouldn't do much good, he could most certainly still hear Jim from across the room, but from studying human culture, he knew the distance could make Jim feel less like the Vulcan was intruding on his conversation. He busied himself, picking up the round, purple object sitting on the desk. "Curious," he muttered to himself, turning the orb over in his hands. He ran the tricorder over the object and went about deciphering the readings. An eyebrow quirked up in intrigue. After a moment, he cut in on Jim's conversation, "Captain, may I speak to Rosie?"

"Erm…yeah, sure," Jim was surprised to say the least. He hadn't been expecting the Vulcan to cut in on is conversation, nor had he ever expected Spock to be almost polite in doing so. "Rosie, Spock wants to talk to you."

"Okay. Put him on."

Jim silently handed the communicator over to Spock. "Rosie," the Vulcan spoke into the little square machine, "I have in my hands a round, purple-colored orb. I am unsure exactly what it is. I have readings on it of course, but if I may, I wish to transmit some of the readings to you so you take a look at them for a second opinion."

"Oh yeah, sure. No problem. Just…yeah, one second," some noise of Rosie scrambling around in the background could be heard. There were a few thunks, then the sound of typing and a computer chirping. "Okay. I'm at a console. Transmit away." Spock pressed the button on the tricorder that sent the data up to the _Enterprise_. "I've got it. Just give me a few minutes." The communicator was silent for a few heartbeats before Rosie's voice came back, "Yeah, the data's showing it's basically just a big ball of silicon with some trace elements here and there, Spock. Is that what you thought?"

"Indeed," the Vulcan acknowledged. "It is very strange. I believe…"

"It's a silicon nodule," Vanderberg came back into the room, carrying an armful of rolled up maps. "The girl's right, that's all it is. There are millions of them down in the mines. No commercial value. Worthless. Just pretty to look at."

"But it's a geological oddity, to say the least," Spock tried, hoping to get more information.

"You aren't down here to collect rocks," Vanderberg snarled as he dumped the papers onto the desk. "Here are the maps you requested. You have my complete cooperation. Just find that damn monster. I have a quota to meet." And with that, Vanderberg stormed out of the room.

"Rosie," Jim tugged the communicator back out of Spock's hands, "maps are here. I'm going to go examine them."

"Of course. Be safe. Love you."

"I love you too," Jim told her before shutting the communicator and reattaching it to his belt. He then unrolled the maps and began analyzing them. Spock placed the orb back down on the desk and moved over towards Jim to help look at the maps. Jim sighed as he scanned over the maps. "With this amount of tunnels, it could take us forever to find it."

"Forever would imply that we never find it, Captain."

Before Jim could come up with a snide reply, Bones came back into the room. He didn't wait for Jim to tell him to start talking, "That guy, Schmitter, he didn't burn to death, Jim. Well, not in the traditional sense anyway."

"What do you mean?" Jim's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, while Spock's attention stayed fully on the maps spread out across the desk.

"Well, there were only bone and teeth fragments left of him. But the physician here agrees with me. It's more like a…chemical corrosion. Like he'd been thrown into a vat of acid."

"Dr. McCoy," Spock turned his attention to the doctor now, "would this corrosive agent be strong enough to eat through machinery?"

"Strong enough to eat through anything you can think of," the doctor grumbled.

"Captain," the Vulcan turned towards Jim, "these maps are dated as having been made just a few months ago. I believe they must be relatively accurate, if it is indeed as hard to mine here on Janus VI as they say it is. Therefore, having plotted the most recent deaths," he pointed to a few positions on the map that he'd been eyeing while Jim spoke with Bones, "and taking into account the times, this creature, whatever it is, must be moving incredibly fast."

"Right," Jim nodded his agreement. "We scanned for life when we arrived, yes?"

"Indeed, Captain. There were no signs of life forms, other than, obviously, the humans that work in the mines here, detected upon our arrival. At least, no life forms that we know of."

"We can't cover all of the tunnels on foot," Jim mused out loud, scratching his head.

"Perhaps we could force an appearance of the creature, Captain," Spock offered up. "That way…"

"Are you out of your Vulcan mind?" the doctor shouted at the pair. "Whenever this thing shows up, people die. They get burned alive! Corroded away by _acid_! And you think it's a good idea for force the thing out into a confrontation?!"

"Bones…" Jim had his be-reasonable-even-though-my-plans-are-insane-and- risky voice on, "there's no way we can…" But Jim's speech as cut off as emergency sirens started blaring along with the lights beginning to flash. "What the hell?"

"It appears to be some type of emergency indicator, Captain," Spock offered up.

"Yeah, I realized that, Captain Obvious," Jim shouted back over the wailing.

"I am not the Captain…" Spock started, not catching onto Jim's insult.

"Never mind!" Jim shouted again. "We need to find out what's going on!" And with that, the three men jogged out of the room to find answers.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Okay, so background all set up. Hopefully it'll be less informational and more action-y now! As always, don't hesitate to tell me your thoughts! J**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: Don't own Star Trek.**

**XXXX**

As the trio ran out of the meeting room, they ran into Vanderberg in the hall. "Something's happening in the reactor room!" he shouted to them as he flew past. Jim looked back at Spock and Bones for a moment before hustling after the Chief Engineer. Spock and McCoy took a moment to react, and in a moment, were following Jim and Vanderberg down the winding tunnels.

The running came to a halt outside a large, red door that read _Power Reactor: Caution Radiation_. The door had a large, circular hole in it. Vanderberg hopped through the hole into the room, while Jim, Spock, and Bones glanced at it. Jim reached out unthinkingly, but Spock's hand shot out, his fingers gripping his wrist. "I would not touch it, Captain," the Vulcan said. "An extremely corrosive agent did this. There could still be traces of it on the door."

"Right," Jim mumbled, pulling his hand away from the door.

Before either of them could say anything else however, Vanderberg's voice called out, "Kirk! Get in here!" Kirk ducked into the opening through the door, carefully avoiding the edges. Spock and Bones followed. Vanderberg was crouched on the floor in front of a large tube. The tube had a hole into it as well. "The main circulating pump for the entire reactor is gone," he announced.

"The tricorder is picking up the same signature as the door, Captain," Spock announced, his dark eyes fixated on the machine in his hand. "The same corrosive agent was employed here to gain access to the circulating pump."

"Do you have a replacement for the pump?" Jim asked Vanderberg.

"No," Vanderberg shook his head. "None. It's outdated. We never updated it because it never gave us any issues."

"Spock, do you think we'd have anything on board?"

"Negative, Captain. I do not believe we would have anything that would be compatible with a device as antiquated as this."

"The reactor will go supercritical without the pump," Vanderberg told them as he stood up. "It could poison half the planet. Maybe more. And I can't shut the reactor down because it provides heat, air, and life support for the entire colony."

"So unless we find the pump," Jim reasoned out loud, "we're either going to die from asphyxiation if we shut the reactor down, or radiation poisoning if we don't."

"You better comm Rosie," Bones told Jim. "She might know something about it."

Jim's shoulders sagged a bit; he'd been hoping not to involve her obviously. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll comm her," he said as he tugged the communicator off his belt again.

XXXX

Rosie was down in engineering. She'd become to antsy, sitting on the bridge, and had hoped that sitting with the machines, listening to their humming sounds, would calm her nerves. She jumped when the communicator on her desk chirped. Reaching out, she picked it up and flipped it open, "Moure here."

"Rosie?"

"Jim?" she'd recognize Jim's voice anywhere. He sounded tense. "What's wrong?"

"That the captain?" Scotty asked her, looking up from the technical journal he'd been reading. Rosie nodded.

"Do we have a spare circulating pump for a PXK pergium reactor?" Jim's voice crackled through the communicator.

"A what?" Rosie's eyebrows went up.

"A PXK pergium reactor."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Jim."

"I do," Scotty told Rosie, gently taking the communicator out of her hands. "Scott here, Sir. No, we don't have a spare circulating pump for anything like that. I haven't seen one in almost fifteen years. That'd be why poor Rosie here's lookin' so confused. They were out of use before she was out of elementary school."

"Could you and Rosie come down here?" Jim asked. "Maybe together you could rig something up? It's vital."

"I'm sure we can put together some odds and ends, Sir," Scotty said into the communicator, scratching his head a bit. "But it won't hold for long. That's for sure." He looked over at Rosie, asking if she was okay with that. She nodded silently.

"How long, Scotty?" Jim crackled again.

"Maybe…" Scotty started, doing some mental calculations, "Maybe forty-eight hours at best? I think that's about all I can do, Captain."

The communicator was silent for a few moments. Rosie figured Jim was conferring with whoever was around him. Finally, he came back on, "Forty-eight hours is better than nothing. Get what you need and beam down here as soon as you can. Kirk out."

"Alrighty then," Scotty said, shutting the communicator.

"What the hell is he talking about?" Rosie looked so confused.

"A PXK pergium reactor, lass. It's a really outdated type of nuclear reactor. I've got a few ideas on how we can rig it. Come on. I'll tell you along the way.

Rosie nodded, hopping up from her seat and followed Scotty out into another room to gather their materials.

**XXXX**

**A/N: New chapter! Sorry it's short! I swear it's going to get more exciting now that Rosie's heading on down to the planet. Anyway, let me know your thoughts! J**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything Star Trek sadly. The only thing I get out of this is the enjoyment of knowing people enjoy reading my work J**

**XXXX**

"Alrighty then," Scotty's voice told Jim through the communicator.

"What happens when the reactor breaks down?" Vanderberg pulled Jim's attention back to him.

"Well," Jim said as he was hooking the communicator back to his belt, "hopefully we'll have the missing part back by then. Then we won't have to worry about it."

"Hopefully?" Vanderberg scoffed. "Small chance, Kirk. There are thousands of tunnels down here."

Jim bristled. "We'll have to find it, Chief," he snapped. "The only alternative will be to evacuate all of your people up to the _Enterprise_." Vanderberg's mouth pursed into a small, angry line at Jim's words. "Thousands of planets depend on your mine's elemental supplies. I'm going to do everything I can to get that part back into the reactor."

"I'm not worried about other planets," Vanderberg shouted. "I'm worried about my people right here. Besides the newly evolved reactor situation, they're still being murdered! You find that monster and kill it. We can always evacuate and come back with a new reactor once the monster is dead." And with that, Vanderberg stormed out of the reactor room.

XXXX

"Okay, so…" Rosie was hunched over an old, tattered schematic for the reactor that Scotty had managed to dig out of some random archive in engineering, "I think I've got it now."

"Great, lass," Scotty looked up from the pile of parts and tools that he'd gathered up while Rosie was reading through the schematic.

Rosie scanned the pile of metal and noticed something missing, "We're going to need a laser knife, in case the pieces don't fit together right." Scotty nodded his agreement, and Rosie walked off to get it. When she returned, she placed the tool on top of the pile. "Do you think that's everything?" she asked, twisting her hair up into a bun, securing the blonde locks away from her face.

"Aye, I think that is," Scotty answered. "Let's get down to the planet."

XXXX

Back in the meeting room, Jim, Spock, and Bones were contemplating the recent events. "I do not believe the missing pump was taken by accident, Captain," the Vulcan said.

"What do you mean?" Bones grumbled.

"It is the one piece of equipment that is absolutely essential for the operation of the reactor, according to Mr. Scott."

"Do you think the creature thing is trying to force the colonists off the planet then?" Jim asked.

"So it would seem."

"Buy why now? The production facilities have been operating for over fifty years now, and nothing like this has ever happened before."

"I do not know, Captain," Spock answered. "But I believe there is a possibility is may have to do with this." Spock moved back over to stand in front of the silicon nodule that he and Rosie had examined earlier.

"What is that?" the doctor asked. He had been out of the room examining the remains when Spock and Rosie had examined the nodule.

"Vanderberg has called it a silicon nodule. It is indeed made up of large amounts of silicone. Both Rosie and I have confirmed this," Spock answered, crossing his arms across his chest. "Dr. McCoy, life as we know it is universally made up of some combination of carbon compounds, is it not?"

"Right…" Bones answered slowly, listening to the Vulcan. "Where are you going with this?"

"What if life exists based on another element?" Spock asked. "For instance, silicon?

"You're insane," Dr. McCoy scoffed.

"I guess it's possible," Jim shrugged, ignoring Bones' protests. "I mean, nobody expected some insane Romulan from the future to show up, but Nero did. Nobody believed in Scotty's warp theories and that's what ended up with him stuck on Delta Vega, but he was right."

"Thank you, Captain," Spock inclined his head in appreciation. "I have heard theories of silicon based life, but it would be of an entirely different order than that of carbon based life."

"But that would mean our phasers wouldn't affect it," Jim's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Correct, Captain. Certainly phaser I would not have an effect. It is much less powerful. However, I believe phaser II would be effective against a theoretical silicon-based life form."

"That would explain a lot," Jim muttered. "If some creature lived here in the rock and was silicon based, I would assume it would have some sort of heavy armor plating. That would explain why the colonists' phasers have no real effect. They are only capable of phaser I."

"But our phasers are capable of phaser II, Captain. Which, I am sure I could adjust to be more effective against silicon."

"Silicon based life is physically impossible!" Bones was clearly fed up with being ignored by Jim and Spock. "Especially in an oxygen atmosphere like there is here."

"The oxygen base atmosphere here," Spock answered, "is artificially created by the life support systems provided by the reactor. Theoretically, a creature such as the one Jim and I have just discussed could enter into the oxygen based atmosphere for short periods of time, before returning to its own environment."

"I think you're insane," Bones huffed.

"You could be right, Bones," Jim tried to placate his friend. "But still, it's something to go on. Here, Spock," he handed over his phaser. Spock raised an eyebrow at that. "Modify my phaser like you were saying. I'm going to go check on the reactor's progress." And with that, he left the room.

Bones rolled his eyes, "He just wants to go see Rosie." Spock didn't react to his words. He simply held the phaser in his hand, but his dark eyes were still focused on the silicon nodule. "You seem obsessed with that rock, Spock."

"It is fascinating," Spock answered. "Vanderberg said there were thousands of them down on the lower levels that were opened just before the creature appeared."

"And?" the doctor prompted him to keep talking.

"I have already given you enough cause for amusement here," Spock answered, placing his hand on the shiny, purple sphere for a moment. "I believe I would rather keep my theories to myself at this time."

"Green-blooded hobgoblin."

XXXX

Jim walked into the reactor room to find Scotty and Rosie both sitting on the floor with hundreds of wires, tools, and metal pieces scattered around them. "How's it going, guys?"

Scotty's eye never left the tube he was slowly feeding into a long metal pipe as he said, "Well, Sir, it's a plumber's nightmare."

Rosie glanced up and flashed him a small smile, before her eyes quickly jumped back to the tricorder she was holding. "Slowly, Jim. Very slowly." She tugged lightly at one of the wires that flowed from the tricorder into the metal behemoth of a contraption that she and Scotty had whipped up. She kept her eyes glued on the tricorder, quietly muttering readings and suggestions to Scotty while he continued pushing the tube.

"It'll hold for a bit, Captain," Scotty assured him after Rosie told him the tube was finally in place.

"It needs to hold for longer than a bit," Jim tried to sound stern, but he only managed to sound worried.

"I'm sorry, Sir," Scotty looked up at Jim that time. "We're doing the best we can do."

"It'll be fine, Jim," Rosie didn't look up. She just adjusted another wire.

Jim's communicator chirped. He pulled it out, "Kirk here."

"Captain," Spock's voice crackled into the room, "the phasers have been adjusted. We are prepared to enter the tunnels."

"Roger that," Jim answered. "I'll be there soon." He closed the communicator and moved back to the engineers in the room. "Rosie. Scotty. Do whatever you have to. Kiss it, baby it. Whatever. But keep the reactor going."

"Aye, Sir."

"Will do, Jim." And with that, Jim left the room.

Rosie waited a few minutes before she was certain Jim was out of hearing range. She glanced up from the readings at Scotty. "He thinks we have at least forty-eight hours," she told him.

"I told him that at best," Scotty answered her. "He can't possibly think…"

"He does," she cut him off. "He didn't hear the 'at best' part. All he heard was forty-eight hours. At this rate," she gestured to the machine they'd created, "we're going to be lucky to have twelve." Scotty nodded his agreement with that assessment. "We have to get the people off the planet, just in case. Jim too. Without Jim knowing."

"How are we going to do that?"

"Leave it to me. I'll come up with something."

**XXXX**

**A/N: Woohoo another chapter! J We're getting close to the end of this one. Not super close, but close. Hope you enjoyed!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything Star Trek sadly. The only thing I get out of this is the enjoyment of knowing people enjoy reading my work.**

**XXXX**

"Okay, I think I've got it," Rosie announced after a few minutes of silence.

Scotty looked up from the tubing he was currently trying to adhere to the metal. "Aye? What's your plan then?"

"I think you or I…probably me because you understand this reactor better than me…need to just arrange for the mine's personnel to be transported up to the _Enterprise_. Just go ahead and do it. No telling Jim."

"Alrigh'…" Scotty wasn't sure he was totally on board with the plan. "What are you going to do about the Captain then? You wanted him off the planet too."

"Yeah…he can't be down here. It's too dangerous, especially with all of us, you me, Spock, Len down here," Rosie mumbled. She chewed her lip for a few minutes while she thought. "I don't know, Scotty. I'll just wing that part."

"Alrigh', lass," the engineer conceded. "If you think you've got a plan, I say go for it. If something goes wrong, we won't be having the amount of time we need for a planetwide evacuation, so might as well."

"All settled then. You okay with that on your own for a while?" she nodded towards the tubing. Scotty nodded yes before Rosie answered, "Good. Let me know if you need help. I can get the majority of the plan set in motion from here." She reached over and grabbed her communicator off the floor. Pressing the button, she called up to the bridge.

After a few moments, the Russian accent crackled over the device, "Chekov here."

"Hi, Pavel. It's Rosie."

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Rosie. Not ma'am. Can you get to the transporter room in say…fifteen minutes?"

"Of course, Rosie," Chekov seemed to stumble a bit, being flustered at using her first name. "What iz you be needing?"

"Okay, great. Listen to me very carefully…" and Rosie began explaining the details to Chekov.

XXXX

When the door to the meeting room opened in front of Jim, he could hear Spock speaking, "Chief Vanderberg, what level did you find the silicon nodules on?"

Jim watched the chief engineer's eyebrows scrunch up in confusion at the question. "The twenty-third. Why?"

"I believe we should begin our search for the creature there," the Vulcan answered curtly.

"What the hell's your fascination with the nodules?" Vanderberg scowled. "They're worthless. What makes you think the creature will be there with them?"

Jim cleared his throat before cutting into the conversation, "It's just one of the possibilities we've discussed."

Vanderberg grumbled something that sounded like "idiots," but straightened up and answered, "Fine. Whatever you think is best."

"Indeed," Spock answered.

Jim nodded his head towards the Vulcan, before turning back to Vanderberg. "I want you to keep all your personnel on the top levels. Stay together, and stay in a safe place."

"What would you consider a safe place, Captain?" Vanderberg snarled. "With the way the thing comes and goes, I have no idea where that would be."

Jim closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to reign in his frustration. "The upper levels. Wherever you think the creature has appeared the least."

"Yes, Captain," Vanderberg told him sarcastically before he stomped out of the room to round up his men and take them to the upper levels.

"You'd think he didn't actually want help," Jim grumbled when the doors to the room slid shut.

"Captain?" Spock interrupted Jim's grumbling. "How were Rosie and Mr. Scott coming along with the makeshift repairs of the reactor?"

"Oh, fine, fine," Jim assured the Vulcan. "They said it'll hold for a bit."

"That is acceptable," Spock agreed. "I believe we should head out into the tunnels now."

"Right."

XXXX

Bones had gone back to the colony's sickbay to see if he could do any more research onto the acid that had been used to kill the colonists while Jim and Spock managed to find their way down to the twenty-third floor. They wandered around in silence for a while, Jim with his phaser at the ready while Spock continued to take readings on his tricorder. Suddenly, the silence was broken by the tricorder chiming.

"Spock?" Jim said as he moved back near the Vulcan. He tried to glance over Spock's shoulder to look at the tricorder. "Did you find something?"

"I am in the process of adjusting the tricorder, Captain," Spock answered. "It will be able to register silicon in just a moment."

"Is it picking up anything?" Jim huffed impatiently.

"Interesting."

"What?"

"A life form, Captain. Elevation one-hundred eleven degrees, bearing four degrees."

"Could it be a miner or someone not on the upper levels with the rest of the personnel?"

"No, it is a silicon life form." Jim gave him a look and began to move in the direction that Spock had indicated. Spock scanned the tunnel Jim was moving towards. "Captain," he said as his eyebrows when up in intrigue, "the sensors on the tricorder indicate this tunnel was just made moments ago."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"But we don't have any machinery that could carve a tunnel like this…it goes back as far as I can see." Jim was clearly confused.

"Indeed, Captain. I am at a loss as well."

"Well, let's see where it goes, then." Jim moved towards the tunnel again, but was halted in his tracks by the sound of a voice shouting to him.

"Jim! Jim! Spock!" Rosie's voice echoed down to them. They saw here coming down the tunnel they had entered the room through, her bright red engineering dress glaring against the dull colored walls. She was heaving, trying to catch her breath when she caught up to them.

"What are you doing down here?" Jim was angry and freaked out to see her down in the tunnels. "You're supposed to be up in the reactor room!"

"Needed…needed…" she wheezed for a few moments, "to talk to…Vanderberg." She continued breathing deeply for another minute before she was able to try to talk again. "Can you tell me where he is?"

"Did you come down here all alone?" Jim ignored her question entirely.

"He is on the uppermost floor," Spock answered her. "Along with the rest of the mining personnel."

She glared at Jim for a moment. "Thanks, Spock. Yes, I did come down here all by myself. I am more than capable…" she trailed off as her eyes widened, looking over Jim's shoulder.

"What?" Jim didn't catch where her eyes were looking but Spock did.

"Captain…" the Vulcan's voice wasn't so confident any longer.

"What?" Jim asked again as he now followed Spock's gaze behind him. There was the creature, shuffling rapidly up the tunnel behind him.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Whoo! The creature shows up! J Hope you guys enjoyed the new chapter! Please don't hesitate to let me know what you thought!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I sadly, only own Rosie. The only thing I get out of the story is the happiness knowing that people enjoy reading it.**

**XXXX**

"What?" Jim didn't catch where her eyes were looking but Spock did.

"Captain…" the Vulcan's voice wasn't so confident any longer.

"What?" Jim asked again as he now followed Spock's gaze behind him. There was the creature, shuffling rapidly up the tunnel behind him.

It was low to the ground, maybe only coming up to Jim's knees, but long length-wise, and actually resembled rock more than anything. The creature scurried across the ground towards the trio, its craggy body emitting hissing sounds as it moved.

Jim roughly grabbed at Rosie's shoulder and shoved her behind him and Spock, doing whatever he could to get her as far away from it as possible. Before Jim could do anything else though, the blast from Spock's phaser was lighting up the tunnels. On impulse, Jim shot at the creature as well then, hitting in in the same place Spock had. It shrieked, shrinking back for a moment before turning course and heading back out the way it came. Jim and Spock stood motionless, staring after the creature's retreat.

"Is it gone?" Rosie asked after a moment, craning her neck to see over Jim's shoulder.

"Yeah," Jim managed, once he found his voice.

Spock cleared his throat with a cough before adding, "Astonishing that something of such large bulk could move so rapidly."

Rosie was the first to move. She nudged herself around Jim and crossed the room, crouching down to look into the tunnel that the creature had fled through. Reaching out, she held her hand towards the wall of the tunnel. "Rosie, don't touch that!" Jim yelped rushing over next to her.

"I'm not that stupid," she sighed, but didn't remove her hand. "The walls of this tunnel are hot." She pulled her hand back before turning to look at Spock.

The Vulcan moved over and knelt down next to her. He held out a hand in a similar fashion and after a moment, commented, "Indeed, they are hot. I would conclude that the tunnel was made…perhaps…within the past two minutes or so."

"But that means the creature cut this tunnel to get in here…" Rosie started but was cut off as two security officers from the _Enterprise _barged into the tunnel.

"You alright, Captain?" one of them asked.

"Did you get a look at it?" the other one chimed in.

"Yes, yes…" Jim dismissed the men's questions, never turning his attention away from the tunnel. "How far back does the tunnel go, Spock?"

"The sensors are indicating that there is a vast maze system of tunnels of the same magnitude in that general direction, Captain. I cannot get a reading on the individual tunnel because of it."

"Did you get a shot at it?" the first security officer butted in again.

Jim sighed internally at the interruption. "Yes, we took a good hunk out of it," he told the security personnel, gesturing towards the hunk that was lying on the ground a few feet away. Spock, seeming to just have realized it was there, moved over towards the piece of the creature's body.

"Jim?" Rosie said after a moment of silence as Spock and Jim stared at the piece, "I really need to talk to Vanderberg. I've been away from the reactor too long already."

"Right of course," Jim's attention was turned back to her almost immediately. "Like Spock said, he should be up on the top floor with the mine personnel. I'll escort you up there…"

"No!" Rosie tried not to shriek, but she wasn't sure how successful she was. She continued on, trying to sound under control, "You need to stay down here with Spock. I'll be fine. I'll comm Bones on my way up there and send him down here to you guys to look at that."

"But Rosie…the creature…"

"No, I'm going now. You stay here!" And with that, Rosie dashed out of the chamber before Jim could move.

"That was…weird…" Jim mumbled to himself as the security officers left grumbling about not being appreciated.

"Indeed, Captain," Spock agreed, but Jim knew he wasn't really listening to him. The Vulcan's eyes had never left the hunk of the creature as he spoke. Gingerly, Spock reached out and touched the piece, and when he wasn't incinerated on the spot, he picked it up. "It is most certainly not animal tissue," he said to Jim after a moment.

"Then what is it?"

Spock was silent for a moment while he gathered his thoughts before answering, "I suppose the closest comparison I could come up with is perhaps fibrous asbestos. It is more similar to a mineral than any known living creature."

"Then your guess was right? About it being silcon- based?"

"So it would seem."

"Bones is going to be so annoyed when he gets down here and sees this."

Spock made a sound of agreement, but Jim chose to interpret it as Spock's version of a snort of laughter. "Indeed, he will be. So in summation, we are dealing with a silicon creature of deep rock that is capable of moving through solid rock, by means of an extremely potent corrosive acid that is most likely excreted from its body."

"At least there's no time-travelling Romulans this time?"

XXXX

Rosie was almost to the upper level when she pulled her communicator off her belt and hailed Dr. McCoy. It took a minute for him to respond, but his gravelly voice eventually came out through the machine, "McCoy."

"Hi, Len."

"Hey, Rosie. What can I do for you?"

"I'm headed up to talk to Vanderberg right now, but Jim and Spock need you down on the twenty-third level."

"What'd they do now?" Even though Bones was just a disembodied voice at the moment, Rosie could imagine his face scrunching up in annoyance at Jim potentially being injured. Again.

"Nothing, nothing. They're fine," Rosie tried to assure the doctor. "It's just…they…the creature came after them."

"What?!"

"They're fine!" she shouted now as she walked down the hall. "They shot at it and managed to force it to retreat. They actually burned a piece off of it with their phasers. They want you down there to examine it."

"Goddamn it," Bones' voice cut out for a few moments, the sound of rummaging around the only thing coming through the communicator. Finally, he was back, "I'm on my way down there."

"Great. Thank you." And with that, Rosie cut off the comm before she reached her destination, not wanting to accidentally let Bones in on the plan. As she turned the corner and entered the room, hundreds of people came into view. She looked around for a moment, before tapping one of the men on the shoulder, "I'm looking for Chief Vanderberg?" She almost had to shout to be heard over the dull roar of tons of people talking at one.

The man gestured her towards another man, and she moved over towards him. "Chief Vanderberg?"

"Yeah?" the older man turned towards her, a snarl on his face. "And you are?"

"Lieutenant Commander Rosalyn Moure of the _USS Enterprise_." That seemed to catch him off guard, as the snarl turned into shock. Most people still guessed she was an ensign at first glance. "Are all of your miners here? All the personnel?"

"Yes," was all the man answered.

"Okay, good. We've decided and ordered a planet-wide evacuation for safety purposes, so in a few minutes, we're going to get started on transporting you and your personnel up to the _Enterprise_. Just a precautionary measure, no need to worry."

"Great…yeah…okay…great." Rosie had clearly caught the man off guard. She hadn't been expecting this to go so easily, but was glad for it.

"Okay, let me just comm up to the transporter room and see if we're ready."

"Chekov here," Pavel's voice once again rang out of the communicator as soon as Rosie pressed the button.

"Hey, Pavel. Are you guys ready up there?"

"Yez, we are ready whenever you are."

"Great. Everybody is in the room I'm currently in, so whenever you're ready."

"Aye, Rosie."

And with that, Rosie's plan was set in action.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Oh goodness I'm so sorry I've been such a slacker. My fiancé came home for good (finally!) so we've been looking for an apartment, and on top of that, I had a scratched cornea for a few days and couldn't open my eye! So here's the next chapter of Rosie! Again, I'm so so so sorry for the wait!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I only own Rosie. Nothing else. Don't make any money or anything. The only thing I do get is the joy of knowing people enjoy reading this.**

**XXXX**

Rosie stood in the room that had once been filled with nearly a hundred people, watching the last six of the mining personnel as the gold ribbons of the transporter wrapped around them and, in a moment, vanished them. After waiting another moment to give them time to reappear on the _Enterprise_, she held the communicator back up near her mouth, "That should be the last of the miners, Pavel."

"Iz zhere any one else to be transported, Rosie?" the wiz kid's voice crackled down to her.

"Um…" Rosie hesitated for a moment, unsure how to broach the next person needing to be transported. She managed to gather up all her courage, hoping Chekov would understand and not report her before she could get Jim off the planet, and said, "Yeah. Yeah, there is one person left who needs to get off the planet."

"Just give me zheir coordinates, and I vill transport zhem, no problem."

"I'll…uh…I'll go to him in a second. You can keep a lock on me and use me as rough coordinates, right?"

"Yez, of course zat vill vork. It does not seem very time effective, but it vill vork."

"One more thing, Pavel." Rosie waited till he acknowledged that he was still listening to her. "The last person to transport…it's Jim."

"Zee keptain is coming back up?" Chekov sounded surprised. "He did not say zat he was….I could just transport him from where he iz…"

"He didn't tell you he's being evacuated to the ship because he doesn't know he's going back up to the ship."

"What do you mean?"

"Scotty and I don't think the reactor's going to hold for as long as Jim wants it, and we thought it'd be safer to only have necessary personnel down here. So I ordered the evacuation, not Jim. I want you to transport him up when I tell you to and not let him back down here. It's already dangerous enough having Scotty, Dr. McCoy, Spock, and me here. If the reactor goes bad, I want to be able to get everyone back to the ship as quickly as possible. Please, Pavel."

Chekov was silent for a moment, and Rosie was absolutely terrified he was going to rat her out to Jim. But his voice came back through again, "I understand. I vill remain in zee transporter room until you are ready."

Rosie let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "Thank you," she breathed. "Just…yeah. Stay right there in the transporter room. I'll keep the comm open so you can hear what's going on. Transport Jim up as soon as I tell you to."

"I vill."

"I'm going to head back to Jim now. Keep locked onto me."

XXXX

While waiting for Bones, Jim was currently pacing back and forth in the cavern. "We've injured it. It's a killer, and now we've gone and injured it. There's nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal," he ranted to himself for a while before stopping and looking at Spock. The Vulcan had a tricorder lifted up in the air and was turning in circles. "What are you doing, Spock?"

"I am scanning the area with a radius of 100 miles for the creature and any other similar ones."

"And?"

"I have located the one creature. Bearing 201. Moving through native rock."

"Okay…" Jim wasn't quite sure where Spock was trying to go with this. He hoped leaving the sentence hanging would prompt the Vulcan to continue in his explanation.

If Spock were inclined to show emotion, he probably would've sighed at Jim. "Captain, think about it. Only one creature in 100 miles," the Vulcan lectured. He waited a few moments for the realization to flitter across Jim's face. "There are thousands of tunnels down here in this area alone. Far too many for a singular creature to cut on it's own in an ordinary lifetime."

"So…" Jim crossed his arms across his chest and resumed his pacing, "you're saying there should be more than one down here then. So either your tricorder readings are way off, or some creature with a really long lifespan."

"Or a creature that is the last of its kind," Spock added. "If that is the case, it is the only survivor of a dead race, and as such, it would be a crime against science to kill it."

"We have to protect the colony, Spock. At any cost. Keep a constant reading on the creature. We'll cut our own tunnels with phasers if we have to. I'm sorry, Spock. The thing has to die."

"I see no alternative myself," Spock admitted, lowering the tricorder for a moment to meet Jim's eyes. "It merely seems to be…what humans would call a pity."

Before Jim could reply, Bones stormed into the cavern, "Alrigh', where's the piece of the creature that Rosie was tellin' me about?"

"Right there, Bones," Jim gestured to the hunk of the thing on the floor.

Bones raised an eyebrow at it. "You're not serious, are you?"

"Of course I am," anger colored Jim's voice. He knew what was coming after the discussion in the meeting room earlier.

"Jim, this is a hunk of rock or something similar. You can't seriously expect me to believe you got this off of the creature."

"Dr. McCoy, it is indeed part of the creature," Spock assured him, while keeping his eyes fixed again on the tricorder. "The captain and I hit it with phaser fire, and this portion of it fell off in its retreat."

The doctor narrowed his eyes at the captain and first officer. "I don't believe either of you for one minute. This has to be some elaborate hoax for not agreeing with you in the meeting room, Spock."

"I assure you, it is not. Vulcans do not make jokes."

"Yeah, well…" Bones glanced at the piece again before gingerly picking it up. "I'm goin' to take it back to medical anyway. See if I can prove you're lying to me." And with that, Dr. McCoy stomped out of the room with the piece of the creature.

"Well…he's in for a surprise."

"Indeed, Captain."

The pair was quiet for a while, Jim pacing and Spock keeping his eyes glued to the tricorder, but the quiet was interrupted as Rosie burst into the cavern. "Jim!"

"Rosie! What's wrong?" Jim yelped as he hurried over to her and started inspecting her for damage.

"Nothing's wrong…" Rosie said, biting her lip. "It's just…you know I love you, right?"

Jim's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Of course I know. What's going on?"

"I'm sorry, Jim" she mumbled pulling the communicator near to her mouth. "Now, Pavel!" Jim didn't have time to response as he felt the swirls of the transporter grab onto him tightly.

XXXX

In the blink of an eye, Jim realized he was now in the transporter room of the _Enterprise_. "What the hell!" He shouted, storming over to where the Russian teenager sat at the console.

Clearly the connection was still open, as Rosie answered him, "I'm really sorry, Jimmy."

"What do you think you're doing?" Jim roared into the comm.

"Scotty and I don't think the reactor will hold for much longer. We already evacuated the mining personnel as a precaution. I wanted you off planet too, just in case. It's already too risky with your head engineers, first office, and CMO down here."

"Chekov," Jim turned to the boy, "you send me back down there right now!"

"Sorry, Keptain," Chekov shook his head and put up his hands in surrender. "I know you are zee keptain and all, but I would razher you be angery vith me zhan Rosie."

"I swear, Jim," Rosie's voice crackled back into the conversation, "it's just precautionary. We'll be done soon. I'll keep the communicator open, and you can stay in constant contact with us."

"But…"

"No buts. I'm not going to change my mind."

Jim sighed, resigned. He knew there was no was he was getting back down there without her knowing. "Okay, so tell me about the reactor then," was his attempt to try to ignore the fact that his girlfriend had outsmarted him.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Woohoo another chapter! AND Into Darkness comes out on DVD today! Actually, I was lucky and had preordered it and it was delivered early for me…yesterday! So I watched the movie last night :) Anyway, hope you enjoyed the new chapter!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek, or any of the characters besides Rosie. The only thing in writing this for me is knowing that people enjoy it. No money, nada.**

**XXXX**

As Rosie was babbling on to Jim about what she and Scotty had been attempting to do with the reactor, Spock's communicator beeped. Rosie and Jim's conversation halted as the Vulcan pulled the machine up towards his mouth, "Spock here."

"Mr. Spock?" Scotty's voice echoed off the walls of the cavern. "Scott here. Just wanted ta inform you that my brilliant improvisation for the reactor just gave up the ghost."

"I do not understand you," Spock's eyebrows furrowed a bit, and Rosie tried to stifle a giggle as Spock misinterpreted the saying. "There is no ghost down here."

"I mean," Scotty searched for different words, "that it's no longer working. It couldn't handle the strain."

"Can you fix it again?" Jim shouted into the communicator on the _Enterprise_, hoping his voice was loud enough to carry over through two communicators.

"Captain? I thought you were on the _Enterprise_."

"He is, Scotty," Rosie interrupted before anybody else could say anything. "He's shouting through another communicator. Can you fix it again?"

"Negative, lass. Captain, it's gone for good." The defeat was obvious in Scotty's voice.

"Start an immediate evacuation of all the colonists then," Jim shouted.

"I already did that, Jim," Rosie admitted. When Jim didn't respond, she pushed further, "I had them evacuated before I sent you up to the ship."

"Okay," Jim cleared his throat, muffling the word. Then, he shouted, "How long do we have, Scotty?"

"Um…" there was some shuffling sounds as Scotty did the math quickly, "the reactor will go supercritical in about ten hours, sir. Unless Spock, Rosie, Bones, and I manage to find the circulating pump in that time, we can't get the reactor back online."

"Scotty," Jim shouted again, "stay just outside the reactor room. Rosie and Spock are going to come get you, and then Bones to start searching for the pump."

"Aye, Captain."

"Right, let's get moving then," Rosie nodded to no one in particular, closing the communicator and ending the conversation with Scotty.

XXXX

Rosie and Spock were making their way through the tunnels towards the reactor room when Spock suddenly stopped and began glancing at his tricorder. "What is it?" Rosie asked.

"The readings indicate that these tunnels are surrounded by tunnels that were made within the last few hours, possibly even the last few minutes," he replied, eyes never moving from the screen. He continued in a hushed voice, hoping to keep Jim from hearing through the communicator, "I believe we might be being watched."

"Watched?"

"Indeed."

"Vulcan intuition there, Spock?" Rosie tried to laugh, but her nervousness made it come out a bit strangled.

"No," Spock shook his head, but didn't say anything further.

They continued on in silence, walking another good distance through the tunnel before it widened into another chamber. "Wow," Rosie said, a little more loudly than she intended.

"What?" Jim's voice crackled to life. "What's wrong? What do you see? What's happening?"

"Are these…" Rosie glanced around the room full of the glimmering, purple orbs as she ignored Jim's questions, "the silicon nodules, Spock?"

"Indeed, they are," Spock answered her before taking the communicator out of her hand and replying to the captain, "We seem to have stumbled upon a whole layer of the silicon nodules, Captain."

"What do you mean a whole layer?"

"There are hundreds of them, Captain. Rosie!" the Vulcan's shout caused her to jump, immediately retracting her hand from where she was about to touch on of the nodules. "Be absolutely certain not to damage any of them."

"Sorry," she mumbled, letting her hand drop to the side.

"What the hell are you yelling at her about?" Jim demanded.

"Allow me to explain, Captain," Spock dropped the volume of his voice again. "This chamber has been most illuminating for me…" But Spock's explanation was cut off as a hissing sound filled the air.

XXXX

On the _Enterprise_, Jim's back was screaming in pain as he continued to stand, hunched over the comm. He heard Spock shout at Rosie, and he could almost picture the shocked look on her face. "What the hell are you yelling at her about?" Jim hissed, completely enraged at the Vulcan for treating Rosie that way.

He waited as Spock began explaining himself, but the explanation never came because coming through the communicator, there was the loud crashing sound of something large and extremely heavy falling. "Spock?" Jim shouted into the communicator, hoping he could be heard over the sound, "Spock! Rosie!"

XXXX

Rosie only had a moment to process the hissing sound, which quickly turned into a thundering rumble as Spock slammed her up against a wall and stood in front of her. The shock of it rattled her brain, and it took her another few moments for her to realize that the rumble was a cave-in, rocks falling and filling the tunnel through which they'd just come.

As the last few rocks tumbled down and the dust began to settle, Spock stepped back from her and brushed off his shirt. "Forgive my roughness," he began. "I let you be injured the last time we were alone. I did not wish for it to happen again."

"It's fine," she answered, glancing around. Then, she heard the tricorder squawking. "Spock! Rosie! Damn it, one of you answer me! What the hell just happened?"

Bending down, she wrapped her fingers around the machine and answered, "We're okay." She coughed a bit before continuing, "There's been a cave-in, but we're okay."

"I'm coming down there."

"No, you are not!" Rosie coughed a bit as she inhaled some rock dust. "This is exactly why I sent you off the planet!"

"Do you either of you know why the collapse happened?" Jim tried to change the subject, hoping he could find a way to get himself back down to the planet.

"I heard a hissing sound right before…" Rosie started, but let the sentence hang. He eyes widened in realization, and she glanced at Spock.

He nodded taking the communicator away from her, "I too heard a hissing sound, Captain."

"What do you mean?"

"I do not wish to speculate, but I find it quite disquieting that the tunnel happened to collapse at just that moment."

"You think the creature was involved," Jim replied after a moment.

"Again, I do not wish to speculate. I merely believe we should proceed with extreme caution and quicken our pace."

"Um…Spock?"

"Yes, Rosie?" Spock turned, just in time to see a large spot of rock in the wall beginning to glow red and disintegrate. "Oh."

"Oh what?" Jim's voice echoed with panic. "Oh what?!"

"I believe the creature has located us, Captain."

**XXXX**

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek, or any of the characters besides Rosie. The only thing in writing this for me is knowing that people enjoy it. No money, nada.**

**XXXX**

"Um…Spock?"

"Yes, Rosie?" Spock turned, just in time to see a large spot of rock in the wall beginning to glow red and disintegrate. "Oh."

"Oh what?" Jim's voice echoed with panic. "Oh what?!"

"I believe the creature has located us, Captain."

XXXX

"What do you mean the creature located you? Spock?" Jim yelped at the console frantically. "Spock! Answer me! Damn it!" Jim slammed his hand down onto the console in frustration with such force that Chekov jumped a little bit from where he was standing, guarding the door to the room.

"Keptain, pleaze be careful wiz zee equipment," the Russian boy tried to distract Jim.

"I don't care about the equipment!" Jim shouted. "I just want them to answer me!"

"But Keptain, if you hit zee equipment you may break it, and zhen zhey vill not be able to communicate wiz us in zhis room at all."

Jim ignored Chekov's comments after that and resumed shouting into the communicator on the console for Rosie and Spock, although he no longer hit the machine.

XXXX

"Spock! Answer me! Damn it!" Jim's voice kept squawking loudly, echoing off the walls of the room as Spock quickly shoved Rosie behind him to shield her. The rocky-looking creature shuffled its way into the room towards the pair. Spock raised his phase, prepared to fire, but the thing stopped instantly.

"It stopped," Rosie whispered from behind him. "I think it's scared." When Spock didn't response or move, Rosie placed a hand on his forearm and pressed down, causing his aim to lower a bit. "Don't scare it, Spock…" But as soon as the aim was off, the creature began shuffling forward again. Spock wrenched his arm back up, correcting his aim, and the creature stopped once again and slowly began inching backwards.

"Rosie!" Jim was almost shrieking now.

Rosie held the communicator up to her mouth, "We're here, Jim. Please stop yelling."

"Stop yelling?!" Jim screeched, his voice starting to sound a bit hoarse. "Stop yelling! You guys imply the creature is there with you and then stop talking and I'm supposed to stop yelling?"

"Please, Jimmy," Rosie tried again in a soothing tone, more for the creature's benefit than Jim's. "It's about ten feet away from us, and it's scared."

"Kill it, Spock! Kill it quickly!" Jim was frantic. "Don't you dare take a chance with Rosie there with you!"

"It is not attacking us, Captain," Spock said over his shoulder.

"I don't care if it's not attacking right now! It's a proven killer! Kill it!"

Spock ignored Jim and slowly bent his knees and crouched down, lowering the phaser. Rosie still standing behind him, took his lead and ignored Jim. Moving the communicator away from her mouth, she bent over near Spock's ear and whisper, "Talk to it, Spock. Let it know it doesn't need to be scared of us."

The Vulcan nodded almost imperceptibly before speaking in a low tone, "Do you wish for us to know something?" It was a minute before the creature responded, but when it did, it began shuffling again. Spock hurriedly raised the phaser again, but lowered it just as quickly when he realized the creature was turning around, exposing the white, seeping wound where he had hit it with phaser fire earlier.

Rosie slowly leaned down and folded her legs underneath her, effectively kneeling down on the floor alongside Spock. "You're hurt, aren't you," she spoke gently to the creature.

Just at that moment, however, Jim's shouts started up again. "Kill it! God damn it! Will one of you listen to me! Just shoot it!"

The creature started shuffling again anxiously, while Spock raised his hands up, palms flat out in the most unthreatening way possible. "Jim!" Rosie hissed into the communicator, "Shut up! It's not made any threating moves towards us until you started screaming!"

"Rosie," Spock pulled her attention away from the communicator, "are you aware of the Vulcan technique of joining of two minds?"

"I've read about it once or twice…why?" She didn't give Spock a chance to answer the question before the answer dawned on her. "You're going to try to mind meld with it?"

"It is indeed a possibility. It does not seem to understand speech, although the tone of voice seems important. Perhaps I can communicate with it this way."

"Are you sure? I mean, it's…rather personal, Spock. Lowering your mental barriers like that."

"I believe if there's a chance we can communicate with it, to find the pump as well as ascertain why the creature is attacking miners, that we must take that chance."

"Be careful."

"Speak to it in soothing tones while I approach it," Spock instructed her as he began inching forward.

"Um…okay," Rosie answered, searching for words for a moment. "Hey there, little guy," she started. That caused Spock to stop for a moment, throwing a look over his shoulder and raising an eyebrow at her. She shrugged it off and continued on, "This is Spock, okay? He's not going to hurt you." Spock made a show of putting the phaser down on the cave floor as she said this. "He's going to put his hand on you, and then hopefully you guys will be able to talk, alright? Don't be scared."

The creature scurried back a bit a few times as Spock approached, but each time Spock stopped, it stopped, and the Vulcan was finally within touching distance of the creature. He sat down and crossed his legs, and gently placed a hand on it.

It was silent for a few moments, and the pair was so still that Rosie was beginning to get worried. "Spock?" she asked, "you okay…" But just as she said that, Spock cried out in anguish. The normally composed Vulcan's wail accompanied by the winces alarmed Rosie far more than anything that had happened so far. "Spock! What's wrong?!"

"Pain!" he hissed out at her. "Pain pain pain…" he kept repeating for a few more minutes until he finally retracted his hand from the creature's body. Rosie scurried over near the two without a second thought. Spock was heaving, trying to catch his breath. "That's all I got," he wheezed. "It's in agony."

"Are you okay?" she wrapped one hand around his arm, the other placed on his back to help his keep upright.

"I am…alright," Spock conceded as the creature shuffled away from them. It hauled itself up on a nearby rock and the hissing sound echoed through the room again. Rosie and Spock watched in fascination as it pulled back from the rock after a moment, to reveal writing etched into the rock's surface.

"No kill I," Rosie read it off the rock as she continued to brace Spock, the two of them completely ignoring Jim's still squawking voice. "Is it asking us not to kill it…or promising not to kill us?"

"I am…uncertain."

**XXXX**

**A/N: Phew! Another chapter! Hope you guys enjoyed!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek, or any of the characters besides Rosie. The only thing in writing this for me is knowing that people enjoy it. No money, nada.**

**XXXX**

"No kill I," Rosie read it off the rock as she continued to brace Spock, the two of them completely ignoring Jim's still squawking voice. "Is it asking us not to kill it…or promising not to kill us?"

"I am…uncertain."

"Are you guys okay?" Jim's frantic voice broke their conversation again. "What was all that shouting? What's going on?"

Rosie moved the communicator up again, "We're fine…" Spock reached forward and tugged the machine out of her hand before she could say anything else.

"Captain," the Vulcan began speaking into the communicator, "I have attempted to join minds with the creature."

"You what?!"

"It was a risk I was willing to take, Captain. In the time we were connected, I have ascertained that the creature is in immense pain from where we shot it, as well as being extremely intelligent. It seems to have picked up some information from me as well, as it has just carved some English words into a rock. It calls itself a horta."

"A…horta?" Jim seemed to consider that for a moment. "Spock…can…we need that part for the reactor. Do you think you can reconnect with it?"

"I can, but from its emotions it believes there is no reason to return the part to us and that it absolutely must get us off the planet."

"We just have to get it to trust us," Jim mumbled.

"I've got an idea," Rosie grabbed the communicator back out of Spock's hands. "Jimmy, I'm changing the frequency for just a minute. I'll be right back."

"What!" Jim managed to shriek out just before Rosie turned the dial.

"Len," she called into the now silent communicator.

"Dr. McCoy here."

"Hey, can you grab your medical kit and come down here?"

"Why? What happened? Is somebody hurt?"

"Just…come down here. Twenty-third level. Moure out." She flipped the frequency back to the ship. "I'm back. Jim."

"What the hell, Rosie!"

"I just called Bones." The explanation wasn't enough to get her off the hook however, and she settled in to listen to Jim's shouts until the doctor arrived.

XXXX

It took a few minutes, but when Bones finally rounded the corner into the cavern they were in, Rosie was still listening to Jim harp, Spock stood carefully eyeing the horta, and the horta was still backed up against the wall, unmoving. "What the hell is goin' on here?" Bones shouted, causing the horta to shuffle nervously.

Rosie immediately stopped trying to talk over Jim, "Len, this is….this is the horta. Just don't yell. It scares it."

The doctor looked back and forth a few times between the young girl and the creature before he carefully began to step into the room. "A horta, you said?'

Rosie nodded, her blonde hair bobbing wildly. "Spock…he performed a mind meld with it. It doesn't trust us. We're hoping…maybe…it's hurt, you see. Where it was shot earlier. We're hoping that maybe you can help it with that and gain its trust."

"A mind meld?" Bones' eyebrows shot up. "What the hell, Spock? That thing could've killed you!"

"I am certain you would not have been emotionally moved by my demise, Doctor."

"You got that right, you green-blooded hobgoblin. What's this about it trusting us?"

"Well…maybe if it trusts us, it'll tell us where the part is and why it's been killing the miners," Rosie shrugged nonchalantly.

"I'm not going near that thing unless it knows I'm trying to help."

Everyone in the room looked towards Spock. "I can reinitiate the meld and inform the horta." The Vulcan moved towards it, hands out to try to signify his intents. When it didn't move in any way, Spock sat back on the ground alongside it just like before. "I am going to tell it that Dr. McCoy means it no harm and wishes to look at its wound to ascertain if he can assist it." When everyone nodded in agreement, Spock placed a hand on the horta and closed his eyes.

The room was silent for a few moments, before Spock whispered, "You may look at it now, Doctor."

Bones moved over towards it and glanced around for a moment before he located the wound. Kneeling down, he pulled out his medical supplies and began running his med scanner through the air over the seeping injury. "You can't be serious, Rosie," Bones grumbled after a moment.

"What?"

"That thing if virtually made out of stone!" Bones got up and shoved the readings at her.

"Please, Len, there's got to be some way…"

"I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer!"

Rosie's eyes scanned the readings again, the gears turning in her head. "Maybe…maybe you could use thermal concrete, Len? That would generally be the engineer's way of fixing this."

Bones snatched the machine back out her of hands and glanced at it. "Let me think about it," he grumbled, and Rosie knew she'd given him a good suggestion.

She moved back over towards Spock. She placed a hand gently on his shoulder, and mumbled, "How you doing?"

"Pain…pity. Eternity ends. The chamber of the ages."

Rosie's eyebrows furrowed as she tried to make sense of the short clipped sentences the horta was feeding through Spock. "Murders! Stop them! Stop!"

"Spock…Spock," she said quietly, her hand still firmly on his shoulder. "The part for the reactor. We need that or we'll all die down here trying to help."

Spock had a lucid moment where it was just him in his mind. He glanced back at her and mumbled, "Understood." He turned back to the horta and closed his eyes again. "Is the end of life…" Spock was mumbling again, but what he said next caught Rosie's attention. "Go out into the tunnel. Into the chamber of the ages."

He didn't say anything further, so Rosie glanced up at Bones, "I'll be right around the corner." He nodded his agreement, and Rosie headed out into the tunnel, unsure of what she'd find.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed!**


End file.
